Federer And Djokovic Set To Pack The Dubai Tennis Stadium

© Dubai Duty Free Tennis ChampionshipsRoger Federer played his first match in front of a capacity crowd on Tuesday.

Simon upsets Youzhny in a thriller

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and top seed Roger Federer made winning starts to the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Tuesday. Second seeded Djokovic defeated Frenchman Michael Llodra 6-3 6-3, while Federer disposed of Indian wild card Somdev Devvarman by the same score.

The second seeded Serb did not take the match lightly after he fell to Llodra at their last meeting, in Paris late last year. But he signalled his intentions right from the first game, holding a break point and then breaking to lead 3-2 when Llodra struck a backhand volley long. He then closed out the set with a second break when Llodra hit the ball long.

Djokovic, who began the year by winning his second Australian Open title, continued to hold the advantage in the second set, breaking to lead 3-2 with a beautifully struck winner down the line. His only anxious moment came when leading 4-2 when Llodra held three breakpoints, but Djokovic held off that threat and went on to claim victory in 63 minutes.

"I didn't know how I'm going to start the tournament after three weeks of not playing an official match," said Djokovic. "so I have to say I'm happy with the performance today. I think he didn't serve as well and as fast as our last match in Paris couple months back. But still, I was managing to return a lot of balls back and making him play an extra shot.

"I was playing well last couple of days in the practices. It was good that I came here five days prior to the first match. So it's good preparation."

Federer was playing in Dubai for the first time since he lost to Andy Murray in the first round in 2008, and admitted that he finds his opening match a challenge.

"I think it's always pretty tough starting here in Dubai," he said. "The ball flies quite a bit. Even me who's practiced here so many times and been here a week now, you almost feel like you're rusty but you're not. You know, when the ball has a lot of topspin and you don't quite catch it right, it flies out two meters.

Although he took the first set with a break for 4-2 when Devvarman double-faulted, Federer faced more of a challenge in the second. He had to fight off two break points that would have given the Indian a 3-1 lead, but he held and then claimed a break of his own when Devvarman made a forehand error. Devvarman then netted a forehand on break point at 5-3 to give Federer the match.

Last year’s runner up, number four seed Mikhail Youzhny, was upset 6-3 7-5 by wily Frenchman Gilles Simon, and sixth seed Viktor Troicki also fell, going down 6-1 7-6 to Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Seventh seed Marcos Baghdatis and unseeded Yen-Hsun Lu both retired with illness. Baghdatis was trailing Andrey Golubev 4-0 and Lu fell behind 5-0 against Feliciano Lopez before quitting.

In other matches, former top five player Nikolay Davydenko swept to a 6-2 6-0 win over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in just 57 minutes, Marcel Granollers set up a meeting with Federer by beating Dmitry Tursunov 6-1 6-3, and Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated UAE wild card Omar Awadhy 6-4 6-2.

The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, owned and organised by Dubai Duty Free and held under the patronage of H.H. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, continues until February 26th with players including Australian Open and reigning Dubai champion Novak Djokovic and four-time Dubai winner Roger Federer. Tickets to see the stars in action, for most days, can still be purchased online at www.timeoutickets.com.