Roger Federer cruises through in Dubai

Federer needed just 56 minutes as he brushed aside Mikhail Youzhny in a one-sided encounter, breaking his opponent's serve four times and losing just 14 points on his own serve throughout the match.

The victory was Federer's 16th in a row over Youzhny. Only two head-to-head winning streaks are longer than -- Ivan Lendl's against Tim Mayotte (17) and Rafa Nadal's recently broken one against Tomas Berdych (18).

It was a superb performance from the veteran, who had earlier been forced to apologise for enraging millions of Pakistani cricket fans after posing for a picture holding the shirt of their arch-rivals India.

The hashtag '#BleedBlue' only increased anger in Pakistan, with Federer issuing a hasty apology.

[BLOG: Federer says sorry to angry fans over 'bleed blue' photos]

That was all forgotten after his win, which sets up a second round match against either Fernando Verdasco or Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

World number 14 and fifth seed Ernests Gulbis was the day's biggest casualty as he lost 7-5 6-2 to Denis Istomin.

"I'm not in good form right now," said Gulbis, who led 4-1 in the first set.

"I'm not feeling my shots at all. I have no timing. In practice I have been playing worse than in the match."

2-Roger Federer (Switzerland) beat Mikhail Youzhny (Russia) 6-3 6-1

Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) beat 5-Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-5 6-2

Andrey Golubev (Kazakhstan) beat Fabrice Martin (France) 7-5 6-4

Joao Sousa (Portugal) beat James McGee (Ireland) 6-1 6-2