RARELY does Roger Federer show even the faintest glimmer of concern at the prospect of facing an opening-round opponent. However, not too many regular ATP tournaments are unable to find a place among the list of seeds for the world’s 12th-ranked player. So when the Swiss star begins his defence of the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships against Andy Murray, Federer might be a touch worried.

Murray can not only boast victory in their most recent encounter, a 7-5 6-4 win in the second round of the Cincinnati Masters Series event in August 2006, he outscores Federer by two titles to nil this year.

Also, the world No 1 has been inactive since suffering an Australian Open semi-final demise against Novak Djokovic in straight sets more than five weeks ago. Federer is not well acquainted with first-round exits; his last came at Cincinnati against the Slovak Dominik Hrbaty in 2004. The same cannot be said about Murray.

Apart from winning those two titles just up the Gulf in Doha at the beginning of January and then again in Marseilles last month, Murray has been forced to pack his bags early at the Australian Open and Rotterdam.

With the world’s top seven players on view and No 10 Tomas Berdych completing the list of seeds, this $1.5m event, which starts tomorrow, is firmly entrenched on the men’s calendar. Federer, a part-time Dubai resident, is intent on winning his fifth title here in the past six years.

Elena Dementieva’s first visit to Dubai ended in victory as she beat Svetlana Kuznetsova to win the Barclays Dubai Tennis Tournament. The 26 year-old Muscovite had to battle back from a disappointing opening and overcome her perennial problem of a spate of doubles faults to end a three match losing streak against Kuznetsova, winning 4-6 6-3 6-2.