Dubai Duty Free Tennis: Federer hands out more punishment to Youzhny

Roger Federer eased to a 16th consecutive victory over Russia's Mikhail Youzhny to begin his quest for a seventh title at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on Monday.

The Swiss world number two looked revitalised during a 6-3 6-1 stroll - his first competitive match since a surprise third round defeat by Andreas Seppi at the Australian Open.

Only two head-to-head winning streaks are longer than Federer's over Youzhny - Ivan Lendl's against Tim Mayotte (17) and Rafa Nadal's recently broken one against Tomas Berdych (18) - and Youzhny looked resigned to his fate.

Federer banged down eight aces during a 56-minute exhibition and will face the winner of an all-Spanish clash between Fernando Verdasco and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in round two.

Joining the 33-year-old in the second round of the high-profile event was Denis Istomin who removed struggling fifth seed Ernests Gulbis 7-5 6-2.  

Results of the ATP Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship on Monday (x denotes seeding):

1st round:

Roger Federer (SUI x2) bt Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) 6-3, 6-1
Joao Sousa (POR) bt James McGee (IRL) 6-1, 6-2
Denis Istomin (UZB) bt Ernests Gulbis (LAT x5) 7-5, 6-2
Andrey Golubev (KAZ) bt Fabrice Martin (FRA) 7-5, 6-4

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