Philipp Kohlschreiber and Roberto Bautista Agut win on opening day of Dubai Duty Free Championship - Sports News

op seed Gregor Dimitrov is in action against wild card challenger Malek Jaziri on Tuesday, but there were comfortable wins for Philipp Kohlschreiber and Roberto Bautista Agut on the first day of the Dubai Duty Free Championship.

World No 4 Dimitrov as the clear favourite to take the title after Roger Federer decided not to play in the event and the classy Bulgarian takes the court on Tuesday, live on Sky Sports Arena.

In the opening day's action, there were unsurprising wins for two of the top seeds.

Germany’s Kohlschreiber, the sixth seed, brushed aside French qualifier Gleb Sakharov with a convincing 6-4 6-2 display. He advances to face Greek wildcard Stefano Tsitsipas, who also progressed to the round of 16 with a win over Mikhail Kukushkin.

Another German, Florian Mayer, was on the losing side as third seed, Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut, dismissed him in two sets. Bautista Agut’s 6-3 6-4 win was his first since January after he was knocked out in the first rounds of the Australian Open, Davis Cup and the Marseille Open.

Robin Haase also advanced, defeating qualifier Quentin Halys in three sets.