Roger Federer made a regal start to his bid for a fifth career title at the Dubai Championships on Tuesday, hammering good friend Michael Llodra 6-0, 7-6(6) on Tuesday to continue his 2012 run of form.
The second seed was just untouchable in a 17-minute opening set, losing just seven points. Llodra, who finally won a game after 25 minutes of play, managed to make a match of it by taking the set into a tie-breaker before going down after 67 minutes on court.
Earlier, Scot Andy Murray overcame a queasy stomach and German left-hander Michael Berrer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga shook off a midnight arrival to dismiss Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 6-4.
“I've been feeling average,” said Murray after winning in 28 degrees Celsius temperatures. “Most of the years I've come here I've never felt that well. I don't know why, but that's just been the case.”
Easy for Tipsarevic
Serbian seventh seed Janko Tipsarevic was untroubled by Russian Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-2. Russian Mikhail Youzhny won when Frenchman Richard Gasquet quit trailing 6-3 due to illness.
Tsonga only arrived at midnight on Monday from Marseille, where he lost in the semifinals to Juan del Potro. “I play tennis for challenge,” said the new World No. 5.
“Today it was one challenge, and it was not easy. I didn't have a lot of energy. I was there mentally and I did it, so I'm really happy. I hope I will have time to recover and tomorrow I will feel better.”
Murray, competing for the first time in a month since losing a marathon Australian Open semifinal to Novak Djokovic was up a set and a break against the 116th-ranked left-hander Berrer.
But the big German still had the fitness edge over Murray to take the second. The third seed traded a pair of breaks with Berrer in the final set before finally earning the decisive edge with a third break for 5-4.
Murray held on to start his fourth Dubai appearance with victory in just over two hours.
The results:
At Dubai (Dubai Tennis Championships): First round: Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Omar Awadhy 6-1, 6-2; Andy Murray bt Michael Berrer 6-3, 4-6, 6-4; Mikhail Youzhny bt Richard Gasquet 6-3, 0-0 (retired); Flavio Cipolla bt Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 7-5; Janko Tipsarevic bt Igor Kunitsyn 6-2, 6-2; Marco Chiudinelli bt Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 7-5, 6-4; Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Marcos Baghdatis 7-6(2), 6-4; Tomas Berdych bt Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-2; Roger Federer bt Michael Llodra 6-0, 7-6(6).
At Delray Beach (Delray Beach International): Ryan Sweeting bt Donald Young 6-1, 6-1; Denis Istomin bt Matthew Ebden 6-2, 6-3; Dudi Sela bt Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-3; Bernard Tomic bt Tommy Haas 6-4, 6-3.
At Malaysia: (Malaysian Open): First round: Casey Dellacqua bt Bojana Jovanovski 6-0, 6-2; Su-Wei Hsieh bt Anne Keothavong 6-4, 7-5; Jarmila Groth bt Kathrin Worle 1-6, 7-6(2), 7-5; Kristyna Pliskova bt Iryna Bremond 6-0, 6-2; Jill Craybas bt Yurika Sema 6-4, 1-6, 6-4; Eleni Daniilidou bt Sania Mirza 6-2, 1-6, 6-4; Ayumi Morita bt Nudnida Luangnam 6-4, 6-0; Karolina Pliskova bt Chang Kai-Chen 6-3, 6-2; Peng Shuai bt Yvonne Meusburger 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
