Roger Federer loses to qualifier Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai

Roger Federer has suffered a shock defeat to Evgeny Donskoy at the Dubai Tennis Championships.

The 18-time Grand Slam champion lost 3-6 7-6 (9) 7-6 (5) to the world number 116.

Federer appeared to be cruising after winning the first set in 24 minutes, but his Russian opponent saved three match points in the second to send the second-round tie to a decider.

Donskoy, who has reached only 11 Grand Slam main draws and has never gone beyond the third round, came back from the brink in the decider, breaking Federer as the Swiss served for the match at 5-3.

He broke the world number 10 again in the 11th game and should have served out for the match, and even though Federer broke back, Donskoy got the job done in the tie-break, fighting back from 5-1 down to claim arguably the biggest victory of his career.

The 26-year-old will face Lucas Pouille at the quarter-final stage after he beat Marius Copil 6-1 6-4.