Why Dubai? apparently that's a good question

Dubai ATP 500

Top Seeds:

1. Djokovic

2. Murray

3. Simon

4. Ferrer

5. Cilic

6. Andreev

7. Karlovic

8. Safin

My Pick: Djokovic - if he doesn't hurt his little toe

Underdog Pick: Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro

I'll start by saying Santoro isn't really a great underdog pick but I love the guy and the way he plays... So why not, With his draw he really should make it to the quarters!

Interesting first round results:

Djokovic and Andreev win.

Murray d. Stakhovsky 6-7(3) 6-3 5-3 ret'd

Both players hurt their ankles in this match, and certainly not to the point of not being able to walk. Way to quit Stakhovsky, as I watched you WALK off the court it was clear that you were so badly injuered you couldn't have stood out there for four more points... way to be a man.

Clement d. Schuettler 1-6 6-3 6-3

Clement is also one of my favorite players to watch due to his unusual shot selections so it's nice to see him grab a round win. Now he plays Murray who is complaining about a sore ankle so I'd love to see Clement take down Murray in the next round... and It's possible.

Gasquet d. Safin 6-3 5-7 6-3

Ferrer d. Ljubicic 3-6 6-2 6-1

Ferrer has a truckload of game, it'd be nice to see him get things going again after a slump at the end of '08 and start of this year.

Chiudinelli d. Karlovic 7-6(4) 4-6 7-6(7)

Cilic d. Tipsarevic 2-6 7-6(3) 6-4

Fabrice "The Magician" Santoro d. Hanescu 6-4 6-2

Simon d. Ghareeb 5-7 6-4 6-4

Matches to watch:

Cilic vs. Benneteau - Battle, thats all, battle

Andreev vs. Tursunov - they are ranked 24 and 28. Andreev has won 5 of their 6 contests... but 4 out of 6 were in 3 sets.

Clement vs. Murray - Go Clement! Murray has a "hurt ankle" but who really knows what that means, and certainly who knows whats coming from Arnaud! This would be a very entertaining one to watch.

I think it's easy to see that this is the Big Boys tournament of the week, the seed cut is twice as high as Acapulco and nearly three times higher than Delray Beach. If you want great tennis, look here.

For main draw singles Results, click here