Roger Federer won his first match since winning an 18th Grand Slam title at the Australian Open as he saw off France's Benoit Paire in just 54 minutes at the Dubai Championships.
The 35-year-old Swiss, ranked 10th, won 6-1 6-3 and goes on to face Mikhail Youzhny or Evgeny Donskoy.
Elsewhere, Andy Murray lost out to fellow Briton Dan Evans in the first round of the men's doubles.
Murray and Nenad Zimonjic lost 6-1 7-6 (7-2) to Evans and Gilles Muller.
World number one Murray will return to singles action against Tunisia's Malek Jaziri, ranked 51st, on Tuesday.