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Five times champion Roger Federer and seventh seed Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany booked their places in the second round of the Dubai Championships

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Roger Federer is chasing his sixth Dubai Championships and the sixth seed went a step closer to achieving that feat with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Benjamin Becker on Monday.

The win over the German was Federer's 38th in Dubai and he's only tasted five defeats.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion is looking to win his first ATP World Tour title of the season,after coming close in the final of the Brisbane International where he lost to Lleyton Hewitt and the semi-finals of the Australian Open in which he was defeated by Rafael Nadal.

Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany joined Federer in round two after defeating Dutch qualifier Thiemo De Bakker 6-3, 6-3.

The German was cruising to victory after leading 5-0 in the second set, before De Bakker pulled back a couple of games but he regained his composure to close out the match.

The seventh seed will face Andreas Seppi in the last 16 and is closing in on his 300th win of his career.