Dubai, UAE  - Novak Djokovic led seeds into the second round of the Barclays Open on Tuesday, with number 8 Marat Safin the only elite victim on the day.

Top seed Djokovic picked after last weekend's semi-final loss in Marseille to defeat Italian Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-2 for a tenth victory this season.

The Serb is hoping to continue his improvement at the Aviation club, where he is playing for the third year after quarter-final and semi-final performances.

Djokovic lost an early break in the first set but re-established momentum with a break-back, going ahead 2-0 to start the second set and pave his way.

Djokovic comfortably paced off-the-boil Frenchman Gilles Simon, who was stretched before beating a Kuwaiti outsider.

The third seed admitted he got off to the worst possible start, finding the switch from indoor European to outdoor courts a huge challenge on the day.

Number 469 Mohammed Ghareeb kept Simon occupied for just over two hours before the seed secured a 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 victory.

"I had a very bad sensation on the court. I just arrived from Marseille and Monday was the first time I played outside," said Simon.

"I got better game after game, but after, he was confident and he just played an amazing match.

"I have to improve my level and to be more consistent from the baseline. If I don't fix this, I have no chance to win this tournament."

Safin, lost to the day's fourth French winner as Richard Gasquet scored a 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win over the two-time Grand Slam champion determined to follow through on retirement at the end of the year.

The men matched up perfectly at ten aces each but three breaks of the Safin serve made the difference in the one-hour, 54-minute encounter, Safin's last in Dubai.

"You have to play with some risk and I was too safe," said the 29-year-old Safin. "I was hitting the ball well but not doing enough to win.

"I wasn't unlucky in the draw, I played OK but it was not my day."

Julian Benneteau added additional French success while Arnaud Clement beat Rainer Schuettler in a battle of one-time Australian Open finalists.

Benneteau, a quarter-finalist at his last two events in Rotterdam and Marseille advanced over Austrian Jurgen Melzer 1-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Clement put out Germany's Schuettler 1-6, 6-3, 6-3 while sixth seed Igor Andreev crushed Rik de Voest of South Africa 6-4, 6-0.

Germany's Philip Kohlschreiber beat Swiss qualifier Michael Lammer - staying in the guest suite at Federer's Dubai home - 6-1, 6-1.

Second second seed Andy Murray was working to put a recurring left ankle injury right after re-visiting the problem during his first-round win over Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky the night before.

Murray won Rotterdam over Rafael Nadal nine days ago while nursing the ankle, which he re-aggravated during his two and a half hours on court in Dubai.

"I was only practising an hour, hour and a half, each day. Around the hour and a half mark where it started to hurt a little bit. I obviously just tweaked it again," said the Scot with two titles this season.

"It felt OK in practise but I think I may have hurt it during the match." dpa