Dubai: All the seeds progressed to the second round at the end of the second day of the Dubai Duty Free Men’s Open at the Dubai Tennis Stadium on Tuesday.
Coming up with an arguably mesmerizing performance was four-time Dubai champion and second seed Roger Federer with a swift 6-0, 7-6 (6) win over Michael Llodra after Andy Murray and Jo-Wilfred Tsonga, the third and fourth seeds respectively, had laboured to wins over qualifier Michael Berrer and Marcos Baghdatis earlier in the day.
Fifth seed Tomas Berdych whipped past German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-2, seventh seed Janko Tipsarevic was equally dominant with an identical 6-2, 6-2 win over Igor Kunitsyn and eight seed Juan Martin Del Potro showed very little signs of a grueling week at the Marseille Open as he eased past Ukrainian Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-3, 7-6 (5).
Top seed and three-time champion Novak Djokovic had already booked his place in the second round with a rusty looking 6-4, 6-2 win over Cedrik-Marcel Stebe, while sixth seed Mardy Fish had sent Andreas Beck packing 6-1, 6-1 on Monday.
But it was a jam-packed centre court here that showed the popularity of Federer since being a resident of Dubai. Winner of the crown here in 2003 2004 and 2005 and then in 2007, Federer showed an amazing touch against a crafty opponent in Llodra to win in straight sets 6-0, 7-6 (6) in an hour and seven minutes of pure entertainment.
“I did play well here tonight and I had a great first set and a perfect start to this tournament,” the current World No.3 gushed.
“It is so much fun playing here and with such a huge appreciative crowd coming tonight I could not have got more lucky,” the Swiss added.
Federer has shown good form since the end of last season, picking up titles in his native Basel and Paris Masters followed by the year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. After a disappointing semi-final finish at the Doha Open [where he gave a walkover to Tsonga] and the last four loss to Rafael Nadal at the Australian Open last month, Federer won his 71st career title in Rotterdam a day before Valentine’s Day.
“There is no better way to get motivated if there are crowds in a stadium,” Federer complimented the fans.
