DUBAI, March 1 A passive Roger Federer struggled to defeat Kuwait’s Mohammed Al Ghareeb 7-6 6-4 at the Dubai Open on Wednesday.

Marat Safin failed to follow up his first round victory over world number five Nikolay Davydenko, losing 7-6 6-4 to Belgian Olivier Rochus in his first tournament for six months.

Serving well, Al Ghareeb — ranked 488 in the world —showed no sign of nerves in the biggest match of his career and after breaking to lead 3-2, he consolidated his advantage by firing four aces past the world number one.

The Kuwaiti fought off four break points to lead 5-3 and came within two points of claiming the set before Federer edged the tiebreak 7-5.

The Swiss also found it difficult to take control of the second set before Al Ghareeb, 25, double-faulted to give Federer a 4-3 lead on his eighth break point of the set.

Federer was not too concerned at his below-par performance after his second match since his victory in the Australian Open final.

Second round results:

Bjorn Phau (GER) bt Andre Agassi (USA) 7-5, 7-5; Olivier Rochus (BEL) bt Marat Safin (RUS) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Rainer Schuttler (GER) bt Ivo Klec (SVK) 7-5, 6-4; Roger Federer (SUI) bt Mohammed Al Gharaeeb (KUW) 7-6 (7/5), 6-4; Mikhail Youzhny (RUS) bt Igor Andreev (RUS) 6-1, 7-6 (7/4); Robin Vik (CZE) bt Tomas Berdych (CZE) 3-6, 7-6 (7/5), 6-2

Qatar Open Results

DOHA: Results on Wednesday at the US$600,000 Qatar Open played at the Khalifa Tennis Complex:

Amelie Mauresmo (France) bt Marion Bartoli (France) 6-0 6-2; Martina Hingis (Switzerland) bt Francesca Schiavone (Italy) 6-1 6-2; Na Li (China) bt Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 4-6 7-6(5) 6-1; Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) bt Maria Kirilenko (Russia) 6-4 7-6(4); Ai Sugiyama (Japan) bt Anastasia Myskina (Russia) 7-6(2) 6-7(6) 6-4; Roberta Vinci (Italy) bt Maria Vento-Kabchi (Venezuela) 6-2 6-3.—Agencies