Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships 2017: ATP Scores and Results from Monday
Third seed Roger Federer made a winning start to his 2017 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships campaign on Monday as he beat Frenchman Benoit Paire 6-1, 6-3, in his first match since claiming the Australian Open title last month.
The Swiss legend made easy work of a tetchy Paire, who was warned late in the match for unsportsmanlike conduct after throwing his racket.
Elsewhere, eighth seed Gilles Muller was beaten in his first-round match by Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber, and fourth seed Gael Monfils won 6-4, 6-3, against Egypt's Mohamed Safwat.
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Read on for a recap of Monday's action in Dubai and a look at the first-round results.
| Guillermo Garcia-Lopez bt. Viktor Troicki | 6-4, 6-3 |
| Philipp Kohlschreiber bt. (8) Gilles Muller | 6-4, 7-6 (1) |
| (3) Roger Federer bt. Benoit Paire | 6-1, 6-3 |
| (6) Roberto Bautista Agut bt. Karen Khachanov | 6-1, 7-6 (4) |
| Marcel Granollers bt. Jiri Vesely | 6-3, 6-2 |
| (4) Gael Monfils bt. Mohamed Safwat | 6-4, 6-3 |
Full draw details and updated schedule available via the Pro Tennis Live app.
Monday Recap
Federer is a seven-time former winner in Dubai, and his quest for an eighth title started in fine fashion as he saw off world No. 39 Paire in less than an hour.
An exchange of holds began the contest before Federer was forced to deuce before holding again for 2-1.
The 18-time Grand Slam winner took a foothold in the match with a break to love before saving three break points on his own serve and moving to 4-1.
Paire called his trainer to resolve a problem with his leg but could not prevent Federer from breaking again and then claiming the opening set.
The Frenchman looked less and less enthused as the match wore on and it became clear he would not be making it further in Dubai.
Having started the second set in better form, Paire was broken to trail 3-2 and then lost his cool in dramatic fashion, per the Times' Stuart Fraser:
Not to be thrown off his game, Federer carved out three match points at 5-3 ahead and took the third as Paire netted.
The Swiss star said afterwards there "couldn't be a better first round for me here in Dubai," per ATP World Tour.
Kohlschreiber moved to within two victories of 400 career wins with his triumph over Muller in Dubai on Monday, per Ahmed Rizvi of The National.
The German claimed the opening set after picking up the only break of the set and then ran away with the second-set tiebreak to prevail in just under 90 minutes.
Meanwhile, Monfils was made to work hard by Safwat to proceed from the opening round but claimed well-timed breaks in both sets to advance without any real problems.
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