Dubai: Top seed Roger Federer marked his return to his favourite hunting ground in Dubai after two years with a clinical 6-3, 6-3 win over Indian wild card Somdev Devvarman in an opening round match of the Dubai Duty Free Men's Championships at a packed centre court here last night.
Playing each other for the first time, Federer took his time to study his younger opponent before dismantling him systematically, but not before some heart-stopping moments to win in more than an hour and a quarter to book a second-round meeting with Spaniard Marcel Granollers in the second late night match today.
The top seed, a winner here on four occasions — 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2007 and a runner-up to Rafael Nadal in 2006 — first broke the 79th ranked Indian in the sixth game and held on love to go 5-2 clear and ultimately win the set 6-3 in 32 minutes.
Saving break points
The intensity continued in the second set with Devvarman having the first opportunity on break, but Federer saved three break points to draw level 2-2. He celebrated this escape with a break in the fifth and then held for 4-2.
The Swiss maestro came up with one last break to win set and match and move into the second round.
Federer, who improved his Dubai win/loss record to 26-3, played his last match here in 2008 when he lost in the first round to Andy Murray in three sets.
Djokovic through for Lopez meeting
Earlier, defending champion Novak Djokovic entered the second round effortlessly even as two more seeds fell by the wayside. Djokovic, who is seeking a third straight singles title in Dubai, took his time to settle in. But once he had done that there was very little his French opponent Michael Llodra could do as the second-seeded Serb won 6-3, 6-3 and booked a second round meeting with Feliciano Lopez.
Sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki and seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis joined overnight casualty Ivan Ljubicic on the exit sheet yesterday afternoon — the former losing in straight sets to Germany's Philipp Kohlschbreiber, and the Cypriot withdrawing while trailing 0-4 against Kazakhstan's Andrey Golubev, after failing to recover from a flu.
Stiff fight
Lopez, a finalist here in the past, was leading 5-0 against Yen-hsun Lu when his opponent from Taipei withdrew with an illness. On centre court, Baghdatis was looking out of sorts and was down 0-4 against Golubev when the Cypriot also called in sick.
Also bowing out in the opening round, though not without a fight, was sixth-seeded Troicki after Kohlschbreiber raced away with a 6-1, 7-6 win in an hour and 22 minutes on Court No 3.
Seeded No 5, Ljubicic had been the first seed to fall on the opening day on Monday when he withdrew with a leg injury while trailing Ukrainian qualifier Sergei Bubka 1-6, 1-0.
RESULTS
Novak Djokovic bt Michael Llodra 6-3, 6-3; vs Andrey Golubev bt Marcos Baghdatis 4-0 (retd.); Nikolay Davydenko bt Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-0; Philipp Kohlschreiber bt Viktor Troicki 6-1, 7-6; Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Omar Behroozian Al Awadi 6-4, 6-2; Feliciano Lopez bt Yen-hsun Lu 5-0 (retired).
Have Your Say
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