Defending champ Wawrinka upset in Dubai

Stan Wawrinka has been ousted in the first round of the Dubai Tennis Championships, upset by world No.77 Damir Dzumhur 7-6(4) 6-3.

This was defending champion and world No.3’s first match since his Australian Open semifinal loss to Swiss countryman Roger Federer.

He left Melbourne with a right knee injury and began regular practices only a week ago.

Wawrinka said his knee was fine, but suggested he needed more matches to get up to speed.

“In practice, (I) start to be OK the last few days, but today I was missing a little bit of something,” he said.

“He (Dzumhur) started also to play a bit better, to put a little bit more first serves in, to put a little bit more pressure on.”

Wawrinka raced to a 4-1 lead early before Dzumhur was able to hit back to take the first set.

“Three games in, like, six, seven minutes, he was playing outstanding there. I couldn’t even touch the ball,” Dzumhur said.

But that was also the point when Wawrinka slowed down and showed signs of becoming tentative, and allowed the Bosnian into the match. In the tiebreaker, Dzumhur went 5-2 up, which was more than enough to secure the first set.

Dzumhur bolted to 5-1 in the second set, but became nervous when serving for the match the first time but closed it out at his second opportunity.

While it was a day to forget for Wawrinka, world No.1 Andy Murray got back on track after his shock fourth-round loss at the Australian Open.

Murray raced past Malek Jaziri 6-4 6-2 in a tick over an hour and 20 minutes and will now face Spain’s Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

Marseille finalist Lucas Pouille also had an easy time of it, winning through to the second round with a 6-2 6-2 demolition of Czech Adam Pavlasek.

Things were equally easy for rising Brit Daniel Evans.

Evans, who conquered Bernard Tomic in the Australian Open third round and made the final in Sydney to start his year advanced with a 6-2 6-3 win over Germany’s Dustin Brown.

He will now play Frenchman Gael Monfils in the second round, while Spain’s Fernando Verdasco also made it through with a 6-2 7-5 win over fellow veteran Andreas Seppi.

Rounding out the day’s play Tomas Berdych advanced when fellow Czech Lukas Rosol retired hurt when trailing 6-3 2-1.