After only a few months of practice together, the 30-year-olds finished day one at Aspire Park with one win and one defeat in Pool B in the women's tournament.

They dominated their opening fixture against Brazil's Andressa Cavalcanti and Vitoria Rodrigues 21-15, 21-15.

However, they then came up against the United States' Kelly Cheng and Sara Hughes who were crowned as Beach Pro Tour champions last week.

Cheng and Hughes overcame a first set defeat to win 12-21, 21-18, 15-12 in the Qatari capital.

"Winning our first match was like a bonus," said Wilkerson.

"We just stuck to what we were practising and feeling.

"There was a lot of confidence coming from our side just from preparation.

"We're still feeling each other out, but as long as we do what we need and want to do, the results are going to show.

"We've been wanting to play so much and this is a very special moment for us."

Pool A was the only other to have each team on the court twice in the women's event as Dutch duo Katja Stam and Raisa Schoon remain undefeated.

They topped reigning world champions Eduarda ‘Duda’ Lisboa and Ana Patricia Ramos of Brazil and Karla Borger and Sandra Ittlinger of Germany.

In the men's competition, Olympic champions Anders Mol and Christian Sørum of Norway won their opening match.

They picked up a 21-15, 19-21, 15-12 win against Italy's Paolo Nicolai and Samuele Cottafava.

Pool play is set to conclude tomorrow in both competitions before the round of 12 and quarter-finals take place on Saturday (February 4).