Top seeds Jacob Gibb (pictured) and Casey Patterson made a successful start to their FIVB Qatar Open debut by winning both of their matches on the opening day of the main draw at Al Gharafa Sports Club in Doha ©FIVB

Top seeds Jacob Gibb and Casey Patterson made a successful start to their International Volleyball Federation (FIVB) Qatar Open debut by winning their two matches on the opening day of the main draw at Al Gharafa Sports Club in Doha.

The Americans first had to come from behind to beat Germany’s Armin Dollinger and Lorenz Schumann 17-21, 21-12, 15-12 and followed it up with a 21-16, 21-15 victory over Turkey’s leading duo, Murat Giginoglu and Volkan Gogtepe.

Gibb and Patterson travelled to Qatar having competed at the Rio Grand Slam and the Vitória Open in Brazil, where they reached the second knock-out round in both FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour tournaments.

"We were worried coming in because we had two awful practices," Gibb said.

"This is deep sand and it is different from what we train on and we got smashed in practice on the first day and second day, so it was good to get two wins."

Itay’s Alex Ranghieri and Adrian Carambula also won two matches out of two to take control of Pool G, though they will need to beat 2015 gold medallists Markus Bockermann and Lars Fluggen of Germany tomorrow in order to top the standings.

The seventh seeds opened with a 21-14, 12-21, 15-7 win over young Polish team Michal Bryl and Kacper Kujawiak and then rounded off the day by beating Norway’s Oivind Hordvik and Bjarte Usken 21-13, 21-13.

Italy's Adrian Carambula (pictured) and partner Alex Ranghieri won both of their matches today
Italy's Adrian Carambula (pictured) and partner Alex Ranghieri won both of their matches today ©Getty Images

Ranghieri and Carambula are chasing their first World Tour medal since winning gold at the 2015 Antalya Open. 

Their most recent tournament was the Vitória Open, where they finished fourth - the closest they have come to the medals since their victory in Turkey.

"I think we started off a little slow, but we picked up the energy and we played our game here and now we are looking forward to tomorrow and trying to win the group," Carambula said.

"We have played three tournaments [in 2016] and won three pools.

"We’re still growing and I’d say we’re only playing 70 per cent of our game right now."

The Qatar Open is the second and last tournament for men only on this year's portion of the 2015-2016 FIVB Beach Volleyball World Tour, following the event on Kish Island in Iran in February.

It is the third straight year that Qatar has hosted a FIVB World Tour in Doha.

The competition, which is set to conclude on Friday (April 8) with the medal matches, continues the road to Rio 2016 that lasts until June 13.

FIVB World Tour events count towards the Olympic ranking, which will determine 15 of 24 spots for each gender that will take part in this summer’s Olympic Games.