Djokovic, Federer post second-round wins in Dubai

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, Feb. 26 (UPI) -- Novak Djokovic cruised to a win but Roger Federer had to overcome a series of breaks Wednesday at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Djokovic, seeded first and the defending champion, dispatched Roberto Bautista Agut 6-1, 6-3 in 57 minutes in the tournament's final second-round match. Djokovic lost his serve once but that was when he was serving for the match at 5-2 of the second set. He then used his fifth break of the day to finish off the win.

Federer, the No. 4 seed, dropped serve the first time he served in each set of a 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-3 decision over Radek Stepanek. Federer won four straight games in the middle of the third set to erase the final deficit and improve to 13-2 lifetime versus Stepanek.

No. 3-seeded Tomas Berdych was also on the court 57 minutes in ousting Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 6-1. Berdych was good on just 37 percent of his first serves but still took 72 percent of the points on serve.

Fifth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga didn't have to play Wednesday but advanced when Nikolay Davydenko was unable to take the court due to a rib injury.

No. 6-seeded Mikhail Youzhny stopped James Ward 6-1, 7- (7-3) while seventh-seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Andreas Seppi 6-3, 6-3 but Lukas Rosol eliminated eighth-seeded Dmitry Tursunov 6-4, 7-6(7-4). Also, Malek Jaziri beat Somdev Devvarman 6-3, 7-5.

Thursday's quarterfinals have Djokovic going against Youzhny while Federer meets Rosol in the top half of the draw. Tsonga plays Berdych and Kohlschreiber goes against Jaziri in the other.