Dubai: Andy Murray of Great Britain caused the first major upset with a fighting 6-7 (6), 6-3, 6-4 win over world No 1 and four-time champion Roger Federer at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships here on Monday night.
- Audio: Federer gives his view on Andy Murray's game (mp3)
- Audio: Andy Murray talks about his win over Federer in Dubai (mp3)
- Audio: Roger Federer discusses his first round exit (mp3)
- Audio: Andy Murray dismisses talk that Federer is on the slide (mp3)
This was the third meeting between the two players with Federer beating the Scottish 20-year-old in Bangkok in 2005 and Murray getting his revenge during the ATP Masters Series in Cincinnati in 2006.
Earlier, French veteran Fabrice Santoro wove his magic on centre court to send last year's finalist Mikhail Youzhny out of the competition.
Santoro, a winner here in 2002 and the runner-up at the inaugural edition in 1993, used his subtle game to outclass his Russian opponent in straight sets 6-3, 6-4 in 1 hour and 23 minutes.
Rainer Schuettler went down in three sets 7-6 (7), 4-6, 6-1 to Spaniard Fernando Verdasco after fourth seed David Ferrer had accounted for Tommy Haas in straight sets 6-3, 6-0.
Meanwhile, qualifier Jan Hernych kept the good things going with an upset 6-4, 6-4 win over Swiss Davis Cup star Stanislas Wawrinka, while Igor Andreev side-stepped a second qualifier, Jan Minar of the Czech Republic 6-3, 6-4.
As for Federer, the last time the world No 1 lost in his first match of a tournament was at the ATP Masters in Indian Wells when he went down to Guillermo Canas 7-5, 6-2 in March last year, after being given a first-round bye as the top seed.
Rare defeat
This was also the first time that the world's best player lost in the first round of a tournament since losing to Dominik Hrbaty at the Cincinnati Masters in August 2004.
This is only the sixth time since being the world No 1 that Federer has not reached a final.
“The key was to stay composed, despite losing the first set, as I knew that if he did make some great shots, he would also be making some mistakes sometimes,'' Murray said.
“Each time I play a player like Federer it is an opportunity to step my game up a bit,'' he added.
Federer has won the Dubai tournament on four previous occasions — 2003, 2004, 2005 and last year. In 2006, he had to be content with the runner-up spot, falling in three sets to Spaniard Rafael Nadal.
Both players sized each other up well in the opening set with Federer coming the closest between the two at having an opportunity for break in the fourth game when Murray committed two double faults. But he did well to hold for 2-2.
In the tie-break, Murray went steaming ahead for a 5-2 lead, only to see Federer come back to win the next three points for 5-5. The Swiss then held his nerves to take the tie-break 8-6 and win the first set in a highly entertaining 45 minutes.
In the second set, Federer started showing some signs of rust which led to him making a couple of double faults in the sixth game for Murray to break serve for the first time to lead 4-2.
With the major damage done, the Briton went on to serve out the set to draw level for a third set.
Federer's misery continued in the third set as he committed the same mistakes, even as Murray made the most of the errors to break the Swiss in the fifth for a 3-2 lead. The Scot then merely held and served out for the set and match 6-4.
