Roger Federer beats Benoit Paire on return to action at Dubai Championships
Roger Federer won his first match since winning an 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open as he saw off France’s Benoit Paire in just 54 minutes at the Dubai Championships.
The 35-year-old Swiss, ranked 10th, won 6-1 6-3 and goes on to face Mikhail Youzhny or Evgeny Donskoy.
Elsewhere, Andy Murray lost out to fellow Briton Dan Evans in the first round of the men’s doubles.
Murray and Nenad Zimonjic lost 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to Evans and Gilles Muller.
World number one Murray will return to singles action against Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri, ranked 51st, on Tuesday.
The Scot has not played since losing in the fourth round of the Australian Open last month, but says he is ‘ready to go’ in Dubai.
This is Murray’s sixth appearance at the Dubai tournament – his best result was reaching the 2012 final where he lost to Federer.
Third seed Federer missed last year’s tournament with a knee injury.
“It’s incredible to be back, I missed playing here last year. I’m standing and I’m here,’ he said.
Federer faced three break points in the match, but he saved them all.
“There were some break points to be saved,” he added. “I think I returned very well for a first round. I was able to get my second serves in deep, was able to go into the offensive quickly.”