Roger Federer brushed aside Michael Llodra 6-0, 7-6 (6) to reach the second round of the Dubai Championships Tuesday while an error-prone Andy Murray needed three sets to beat German qualifier Michael Berrer. Fourth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also survived a tight match against Marcos Baghdatis, beating the 46th-ranked Cypriot 7-6 (2), 6-4 to set up a second-round encounter with Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic. Juan Martin del Potro, who won the Open 13 in Marseille last week for his 10th career title, beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3, 7-6 (5). Federer needed only 17 minutes to win the first set, dictating play on his serve and using a solid return game to break the Frenchman three times. The second set was a much tighter affair, as both players held their serve throughout and Llodra forced the tiebreaker. Second-seeded Federer had a 4-2 advantage in the tiebreaker, but Llodra ran off three points to go up 5-4 and had a set point at 6-5. But Federer saved it with a forehand that just caught the line and then ran off the final two points to win the match in just over an hour. Federer next faces Feliciano Lopez, who he beat in the 2004 Dubai final. Lopez beat Nicolas Mahut of France 6-4, 6-4. Murray, playing his first match since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals, looked ragged and at times his movement appeared labored in his 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win over Berrer. He said later that he didn't “feel great” at the start of the match and at times felt nauseous on court. Murray now faces Swiss qualifier Marco Chiudinelli, who beat Nikolay Davydenko 6-4, 5-7, 6-4. In other first-round matches, fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych made quick work of Benjamin Becker, winning 6-2, 6-2 in just over an hour. Mikhail Youzhny reached the second round when French opponent retired with the flu after losing the first set 6-3. Jankovic scrapes through In Kuala Lumpur, former world No.1 Jelena Jankovic scraped through the opening round of the BMW Malaysian Open Tuesday, barely beating Caroline Garcia of France in a hard-fought three-set thriller. Jankovic, second seed in the tournament, had to slog for nearly three hours before pulling off a 7-6 (9-7), 4-6, 7-6 (7-2) victory over 17-year-old Garcia, who fell apart towards the end. Rain interrupted the game several times, with Jankovic of Serbia saying she slogged to play in the humid weather after only two days of training in Malaysia. The heavy rain also played havoc with the scheduling, with the top seed Agnieszka Radwanska's match against Akgul Amanmuradova postponed to Wednesday. Earlier, eighth seed Anne Keothavong of Britain was sent crashing out of the tournament when Taiwan's Su-Wei Hsieh defeated her 6-4, 7-5. Keothavong was not the only star to fall in the first round as crowd favorite Sania Mirza of India lost in three games to Greece's Eleni Daniilidou, who won 6-2, 1-6, 6-4. On Monday, Seeded players Petra Martic of Croatia and defending champion Jelena Dokic of Australia won first-round matches.
