“Becker” is a name strongly associated with German tennis, but the reason for that association will not be wielding a racket in Dubai this week.  No relation to Boris Becker, the six-time major champion and current coach of Novak Djokovic, world No. 90 Benjamin Becker quickly exited the tournament at the hands of Roger Federer.

Other than their common age of 32, the careers of Federer and Becker lie worlds apart.  In nearly a decade since turning professional, Becker has won just one career title.  He started the 2014 season with a 3-5 record, so this match looked to be routine from the outset.  And it was.  Federer faced only on break point as he dominated behind his first serve.  In a somewhat less typical trend, he pounced on nearly all of his own break-point opportunities.  While Becker stayed within a single break in the second set, the 6-1 6-4 outcome was never seriously in doubt.  Federer now has won all eight sets that the two men have played.

Up next for Federer, a five-time champion in Dubai, is another fellow veteran in Radek Stepanek or Michael Russell.  A familiar theme of this tournament is the gap separating the seeds from the rest.  Each year, Dubai lures some of the sport's brightest stars with generous appearance fees and entertaining off-court activities.  But the direct entry cut-off usually dips near triple digits with relatively few players at the middle levels of the sport.  While this arrangement can reduce drama in the early rounds, it makes Dubai a useful venue for contenders to accumulate match practice, take more chances, and hone less polished elements of their games without much fear of an early upset.

The other two seeds in action today, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Dmitry Tursunov, defeatged qualifiers in straight sets.  Of somewhat more interest was the comeback launched by Andreas Seppi over Florian Mayer, probably a superior player to Seppi on hard courts.  Rising Spanish talent Roberto Bautista Agut also seized the opportunity presented by a soft draw to build on his second-week appearance at the Australian Open.

On Tuesday, the remaining four top-10 men in Dubai will open their campaigns.  World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro and world No. 6 Tomas Berdych should encounter no difficulty against a wildcard and a qualifier, respectively.  And the tenth-ranked Jo-Wilfried Tsonga faces an opponent in Victor Hanescu who has lost five of his last six matches.  More intrigue might loom when top seed and world No. 2 Novak Djokovic faces Denis Istomin, who won a set from him on a hard court last year.  But Djokovic defeated Istomin in straight sets at the Australian Open last month, so he will feel confident of solving this test.