Roger Federer survives scare against Tunisian Malik Jaziri in Dubai

Gutsy Tunisian Malik Jaziri gave five-time champion and former World No.1 Roger Federer a real scare before the Swiss ace battled his way back to a “rocky” 5-7, 6-0, 6-2 win on the opening day of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open on Monday night.

A rank outsider, who was not expected to be a match for one of the world’s best players, Jaziri did the unthinkable as he upset predictions by taking a tight first set 7-5 in 41 minutes in front of a packed stadium.

But, the 29-year-old Tunisian – who had taken a break from the game in October last year to treat an ailing left knee – was made to pay for his audacity as Federer registered breaks in the second, fourth and sixth games to blank his opponent 6-0 in just 23 minutes to set up a final-set decider.

In the third set, Federer got the decisive break of serve in the sixth game to go 4-2 up, and he never looked back from here.

“It was one of those rocky starts that I normally have here. I could not get too much rhythm out there and I could not take advantage of the chances that came my way either. He [Jaziri] went for his shots and there was little I could do,” Federer said.

Federer, who has won five times here, admitted that Dubai is so special to him that he feels he has to do well here. “It was a difficult match and I really want to do well here. I put myself under pressure,” the Swiss admitted.

“I struggled with the wind initially, but in the end everything went off well and I was able to find my way out [of a hole],” he added.

Jaziri, meanwhile, will hope to build on a consistent season last year in which he reached his highest individual ranking on the ATP Tour in the first half of June when he became the World No.69.

Known for his fearless attitude, Jaziri took French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to three sets at the 2012 Qatar Open in Doha. And later that year, during the clay season, he took part in his first French Open, the Tunisian winning his first-round match against German Philipp Petzschner before losing to Spaniard Marcel Granollers in four sets.

Primarily a Futures and Challenger circuit player, Jaziri also qualified for the 2011 US Open, his first Grand Slam tournament. He started off well, defeating Thiemo de Bakker in four sets, but lost to World No.8 Mardy Fish in the second round.

Earlier last night, Andreas Seppi and Mikhail Youzhny led the march of seeds into the second round with the former, the number seven seed, breaking his Dubai duck with a 6-3, 7-5 win over Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, while No. 8 seed Youzhny battled to a 1-6, 6-1, 6-3 win over Slovenian Blaz Kavcic.

Seppi had never won any of his previous four encounters with Mathieu, but took advantage of some lacklustre hitting from his French opponent to win 6-3, 7-5 in an hour and 26 minutes.