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 "My expectations are not sky-high at this point," said Federer, who was playing for the first time since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Australian Open semifinals Jan. 25. "Obviously, I haven't played much so you don't go in with any expectations, actually. You hope to get past the first round, no matter if it's a guy with no ranking or a guy ranked basically in the top 10."
After winning his 12th Grand Slam title at last year's U.S. Open, Federer lost to David Nalbandian in the Madrid Masters final. The Swiss star then won the Swiss Indoors, but lost to Nalbandian in the third round of the Paris Masters and followed that with a round robin loss to Fernando Gonzalez in his opening match at the ATP Masters Cup, which Federer eventually won.
On Monday, Federer said he felt rusty.
"Missing forehands by two or three meters -- it's just not possible," Federer said. "I gave him the mistakes today."
Playing Murray, who is ranked 11th in the world and beat Federer at the Cincinnati Masters two years ago, in the first round didn't make things any easier on Federer.
"It was always going to be a tough draw. I knew that from the start," Federer said. "He's played many matches already this season whereas obviously I come in a little bit cold.
"Of course, I wish I would have maybe had a little bit easier draw, but under the circumstances I felt I played OK. It wasn't a bad match, which is the only positive thing out of tonight."
Murray has already won two ATP titles this season, and he now leads Federer 2-1 in his career.
"Anytime you get to play someone like Roger, it is an honor to be on the same court as him," Murray said. "Each time I play him I step my game up and play pretty well, and I played really well today and served great."
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Federer, who won the Dubai tournament four times in the last five years, had not lost in the first round of a tournament since his defeat to Dominik Hrbaty in the 2004 Cincinnati Masters. Last year, Federer lost his opening match at the Pacific Life Open to Guillermo Canas after getting a bye into the second round.
"He's the best player in the world, there's no question," Murray said. "The most important thing is to believe that you can win the match."
Murray held serve throughout the match and broke Federer in the sixth game of the second set. He broke Federer's serve again to take a 3-2 lead in the third. The British player served out the match at love.
Fabrice Santoro of France also advanced, beating last year's finalist, Mikhail Youzhny, 6-3, 6-4. Fourth-seeded David Ferrer of Spain advanced by beating Tommy Haas of Germany 6-3, 6-0, and seventh-seeded Richard Gasquet of France defeated Dmitry Tursunov of Russia 6-4, 6-4.
[Associated Press; By ALFRED de MONTESQUIOU]
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