The 86th seed defeated Khalifa Al Zarooni of the United Arab Emirates 15-11 at Doha's Aspire Dome in the first round of the preliminary draw of the men's épée competition.

He then went on to beat Geoffroy Husson 15-5 after the Belgian had received a first-bout bye.

The 32-year-old Tymoshenko is now due to face tournament favourite Masaru Yamada of Japan in the main draw.

Tokyo 2020 team gold medallist Yamada was given top seeding prior to the beginning of the tournament.

Hungary's Gergely Siklósi, who is thought to be Yamada's closest competitor as the second seed, is scheduled to face Ilian Bobrov of Estonia in his opener.

Bobrov saw off Finland's Jaakko Paavolainen 15-12 before downing Kazakhstan's Yerlik Sertay by the same score.

Siklósi won silver at Tokyo 2020 in the individual men's épée tournament.

The man who beat him in Japan, Romain Cannone of France, has been drawn up against Aleksander Staszulonek.

The Pole, world number 366, beat Switzerland's Ian Hauri 15-10 and Frenchman Alex Fava 15-14 in thrilling fashion en route to the main draw.

Action is set to continue tomorrow in the Qatari capital as the main draw in both the men's and women's tournament begins.