Flashback: Federer makes it two in-a-row

Dubai: The men's draw in 2004, quite remarkably, produced a replay of the recent Australian Open final in the very first round, with Roger Federer playing Marat Safin. That came about because Safin, ranked 30, was unseeded.

Federer had won in Melbourne and he won again in Dubai, the defending champion edging through in two tie-breaks. Federer went on to reach the final, where he dropped his first set of the week on his way to a 4-6 6-1 6-2 win over Feliciano Lopez.

Guillermo Coria lost in the first round to Mikhail Youzhny. The second and third seeds, Rainer Schuettler and David Nalbandian respectively, also failed to survive the first round, as did fifth seed Mark Philippoussis and sixth seed Tim Henman.

Unseeded Rafael Nadal was in the draw but lost to Youzhny 6-2 1-6 6-1 in the quarter-finals. Fabrice Santoro linked with Mahesh Bhupathi to win the doubles, beating Jonas Bjorkman and Leander Paes 6-2 4-6 6-4. He remains the only player to win both the singles and doubles titles.

Justine Henin swept to the women's title without the loss of a set, defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova 7-6 6-3 in the final. Venus Williams was seeded two but was beaten in the quarter-finals by Kuznetsova, and third seed Jennifer Capriati lost to wild card Eleni Danillidou after a first round bye. The doubles went to Janette Husarova and Conchita Martinez as they beat Kuznetsova and Elena Likhovtseva 6-0 1-6 6-3.