Minar a Major Nightmare for Federer at Dubai

The 20-year-old qualifier from Prague, employing an aggressive net-rushing game, also led the Swiss 4-3 in the third-set tiebreak after a nervous double fault from Federer before the world No. 1 finally closed the door.

Some rust was apparent in the Swiss' game after arriving in Dubai only two days prior to the match.

"He had already won three matches here in the qualifying competition, which gave him a longer and better preparation," Federer said. "I had confidence after winning Rotterdam, but it was very different conditions, indoors, and this is outdoors, and I was struggling a little."

After trailing 1-3 in the third Federer took the next four games but then failed to serve out the match at 5-3.

"It can become dangerous against any player in the Top 200," Federer said. "Two or three times I thought the match might slip away, especially when I nearly went a double break down (in the third). I didn't have enough rhythm and I wasn't as aggressive as I would like to be. But he played as aggressively as I would have like to, and was in a very dominant position, so in the end for me it turned out to be a fine win."

No. 8 seed Ivan Ljubicic (d. (Q) Lisnard, baking two breadsticks) was also a first-round winner, with seeds into the quarterfinals Wednesday including (4) Andre Agassi (d. Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez), (5) Tommy Robredo (d. Berdych), and (6) Nikolay Davydenko (d. Hrbaty).

"I felt like it could have turned into a difficult match," said Agassi, who dropped only four games. "If you let Feliciano play on his terms he can control it with his forehand and he becomes quite effective."

German former Top 5-er Nicolas Kiefer was the only unseeded winner on the day, edging Korea's Hyung-Taik Lee in three to follow up his win over Marat Safin.

Thursday's line-up in Dubai features Schuettler vs. (7) Youzhny, (8) Ljubicic vs. Verdasco, Andreev vs. (3) Henman, and a blockbuster in (1) Federer vs. former No. 1 (WC) Ferrero (Club Fed leads career meetings 4-3, including winning the last two).