The Courier & Advertiser (Angus and Dundee)
Dubai doubles defeat on Murray’s return
World No 1 left to concentrate on singles campaign after straight-sets loss on opening day
Andy Murray lost out to fellow Briton Dan Evans in the first round of the men’s doubles at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.
The Scot, who revealed he had overcome a bout of shingles during a fiveweek lay-off, and his Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic were beaten 6-1 7-6 (7-2) by Evans and Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.
The world No 1 has not played since a shock fourth-round exit to Mischa Zverev in the fourth round of the Australian Open, and revealed he contracted shingles on returning from Melbourne.
Murray will turn his attention to the singles today, where he is top seed and plays Spaniard Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the second round.
Seven-time winner Roger Federer eased into the second round yesterday with a comfortable victory over Benoit Paire.
The Swiss, seeded third, took just 54 minutes as he won 6-1 6-3 in his first competitive outing since winning last month’s Australian Open.
Federer’s serve was unaffected by the lay-off as he won 70% of his service points and broke his French opponent in both sets twice to set up a meeting with the winner of the all-Russian match between Mikhail Youzhny and qualifier Evgeny Donskoy.
“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,” Federer said.
“I didn’t have to move that much. It was very quick rallies so we’ll see how that’s going to turn out.
“But obviously it couldn’t be a better first round for me here in Dubai and I’m glad to be back.”
Fourth seed Gael Monfils took 80 minutes to see off Egyptian wildcard Mohamed Safwat, eventually winning 6-4 6-3.
Earlier in the day Germany’s Philipp Kohlschreiber, who is now two away from a 400th win of his career, dispatched eighth seed Gilles Muller 6-4 7-6 (7-1).
“Hopefully I can achieve the mark here in this tournament. It would be great (and) mean I’m in the semifinals,” Kohlschreiber said.