Novak Djokovic, Grigor Dimitrov and Karolina Pliskova were among players with title runs this weekend as the 2017 season kicked off.

In the most anticipated match of the weekend, Djokovic defeated world no.1 Andy Murray in an epic 6-3, 5-7, 6-4 battle for the Doha title that lasted nearly 3 hours.  If this match served as a preview of what life at the top of the ATP tour this season will resemble, fans are in for a treat.

Djokovic appeared to be rolling to a straight-set win but Murray would not go without a fight, breaking the Serb as he served for the match in the second set.  He would ultimately turn the set in his favor and even play. But Djokovic regrouped, gained the advantage and turned the momentum back in his favor in the third set and closed out the match, ending Murray’s 28-match win streak.

Murray took the world’s top spot from Djokovic at the end of 2016 season, but Djokovic served notice that he aimed to recapture the ranking.

“Definitely one of the best ways to start a year,” said Djokovic. “When Andy turned it around I thought ‘I hope this is not payback time’.  All the way to the last shot, you never know with Andy. It’s no strange occurrence for both of us to play three sets for three hours. It’s a very physical battle. We’re both going to need a bit of time to recover and get ready for Melbourne.”

Murray summed up the match and his week at Doha, “It was a tough one to lose but great way to start the year. High-level tennis, some of the points were physically tough but great way to start the year playing like that. And I'm looking forward to the next few weeks. We've known each other since we were 11 years old, and competing against each on the court and see each other all over the world. We fight each other on the court but get on well off it - I think that's quite normal. It's been a great week. Hopefully, I can come back in years to come.”

Meanwhile, Dimitrov capped off a strong start to his season with a 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 win over world no. 5 Kei Nishikori to take the ATP Brisbane title.  It was the Bulgarian’s first championship since 2014.

Dimitrov, who at times, has been accused of not playing up to his potential, was happy but put the result into perspective afterward.  ”I think that was kind of an emotional win for me, but in the same time, it wasn’t unexpected,” he said. ”I think I have put in the work. I think I have learned a lot. I have gone through some serious work and just — you know, I have just been working on myself, you know, on and off the court.”

He continued, “I think at some point, you know, things need to start, you know, giving back to you a little bit. I just feel that — first, I feel fortunate enough to be at the final, to be so healthy and to being obviously in such a shape. But in the same time, I’m pretty humbled, because I have set myself quite high goals, actually, for the first six months, and one of them was actually to win a tournament. And it happened during the first week of the year, which makes things definitely look a lot more positive for me, and I’m definitely happy with, but I’m just staying with my feet on the ground.”

It is worth noting that Nishikori required attention after a hip injury in the second set but its severity is not yet known. The Japan star did not think it would affect the Australian Open stating, ”It was my hip. I’m not sure how bad (it is). For sure, it will take a couple days, it’s not a big deal, should be okay.”

Elsewhere, Pliskova continued her climb to the top with a dominating 6-0, 6-3 win over Alize Cornet to win the Brisbane International. The win gave the Czech her 7th WTA title and pushed her to world no. 5.

The 24-year old kept Cornet on the defensive as she struck 30 winners and never allowed the Frenchwoman to find her footing in the match.  She addressed the crowd afterward, “Every day here it's been a full stadium and I've loved to play in front of you and I hope I'm going to be back next year.”

Meanwhile, it was a week of firsts for Lauren Davis and Katerina Siniakova who both won maiden WTA titles over the weekend. Davis defeated Ana Konjuh 6-3, 6-1 to win the ASB Classic in Auckland while Siniakova took care of Alison Riske 6-3, 6-4 to win the Shenzhen Open championship.

The 23-year old Davis, known for overcoming her size with her scrappy play, put together a tremendous week, dropping just one set during the tournament.

“It's definitely an incredible feeling winning my first WTA title,” said the American. “It's definitely surreal. I've been waiting for this one for quite a few years. I had two finals last year and it was definitely discouraging and frustrating but third time's a charm.”

Siniakova overcame a slow start to win her first title, catapulting her into the world top-40.

“It's been a really great week for me and I'm so glad that I won this time because this match was really tough; I didn't play my best but I'm really happy that I did it,” she said. “It's a great start to the year for me. I hope my performance continues to go up and get better.”

Roberto Bautista Agut took the Chennai Open title after defeating Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-4. Medvedev was forced to deal with cramping issues during a match that was dominated by the veteran. It was the 5th career ATP title for the Spaniard.

Lastly, France took their second Hopman Cup championship after they defeated the United States in the final. The title was decided by a mixed doubles match where the team of Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic defeated Jack Sock and CoCo Vandeweghe 4-1, 4-3. Earlier, Vandeweghe defeated Mladenovic while Gasquet overcame Sock in singles. The French team had previously defeated Roger Federer and Belinda Bencic in mixed doubles to advance to the championship.