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Federer, Murray in Dubai duel

Dubai - World No.2 and No.3 to do battle for OBI UAE Royals and Singapore Slammers

Roger Federer's single-set shootout with Andy Murray is the undoubted highlight on the second day of the Dubai leg in the International Premier Tennis League (IPTL) 2 at Dubai Tennis Stadium today (Tuesday).
The Swiss world number three will be representing hometown hopes the OBI UAE Royals when he takes to Centre Court for only the second time since winning a record seventh Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championship crown back in late February. He played in the men's singles and men's doubles alongside Croatian Marin Cilic late last night.
Federer has played his British opponent - a marquee player for the OUE Singapore Slammers - on 25 occasions on the ATP World Tour and he has marginally had the better of their head-to-head record so far; Federer winning 14 matches (56 per cent) to Murray's 11 (44 per cent).
Federer and Murray will obviously be engaged in men's singles action, but there will also be mixed doubles, women's singles, men's legends singles and men's double across roughly three action-packed hours from 7:30pm onwards this evening.
Federer's UAE Royals team-mates include: Cilic, Goran Ivanisevic, Kristina Mladenovic and doubles specialist Daniel Nestor.
Murray meanwhile will join forces with the likes of Belinda Bencic, Dustin Brown, Nick Kyrgios, Marcelo Melo, Carlos Moya and Karolina Pliskova among the Slammers contingent.
Prior to the OBI UAE Royals and OUE Singapore Slammers showdown, league leaders the Micromax Indian Aces will be looking to build upon Monday's 25-18 victory over the Legendari Japan Warriors when they lock horns with the Philippine Mavericks at 4pm in the afternoon (UAE time).
Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza are regulars for player-coach Fabrice Santoro in the Aces' double pairings alongside Croatia's Ivan Dodig. Agnieszka Radwanska and Bernard Tomic are the standout singles players for the reigning champions.
Like Santoro at the Aces, the Mavericks also have a player-coach in Mark Philippoussis and Indian and Filipino representation in Somdev Devvarman and Treat Huey. 
Jarmila Gajdosova, Ivo Karlovic, Edouard Roger-Vasselin and Ajla Tomljanovic complete the Mavericks' line-up.
alex@khaleejtimes.com