Tim Henman, the UK's former world No. 4, began the battle to save his career with a 7-5, 6-3 win over French qualifier Antony Dupuis to reach the second round of the BA-CA Trophy in Vienna on Monday.
It was Henman's first match since losing in the first round of the US Open six weeks ago and only his second win since Wimbledon -- an injury-ruined phase which brought speculation that the 31-year-old's touring days might be nearing their end.
"I've been working very hard back home but when you come on to court that's the next level so I'm really pleased with the way I played," said Henman, who was the champion here five years ago.
Dupuis made the first set a good contest by holding serve five times and hitting some beefy forehands, but just when he seemed about to force it to a tie-break, he cracked.
At 30-love up in the eleventh game, his serve was punished by a penetrating forehand return. Dupuis then played two indifferent points to go 30-40 down, and on the set point served a double fault.
Although Henman dropped serve in the opening game of the second set -- which was interrupted by music in the middle of a rally -- it spurred him to his best tennis of the match.
Earlier Jiri Novak, the former top-10 Czech who was one of the potential danger men in the same quarter, was unexpectedly beaten by a local wild-card player, Oliver Marach.
Later the defending champion Feliciano Lopez came through a difficult test, the eighth-seeded Spaniard surviving three sets and a partisan home crowd to beat Alexander Peya, the wild-card Austrian entry, by 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Kremlin Cup
Patty Schnyder of Switzerland, fifth seed of the women's section of the joint ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup event, battled back from a set down to oust Russia's Anna Chakvetadze on her way to the second round in Moscow on Monday.
Schnyder won 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 in one hour 58 minutes to beat the local favorite in their first ever meeting.
In the ATP section fourth-seed doubles specialist Max Mirnyi of Belarus booked a second-round berth following a straight-set win over Russia's Yevgeny Kirillov, who appeared in the main draw courtesy of a wild card.
Stockholm Open
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan stretched his late-season ranking rehabilitation into a third week on Monday, knocking eighth-seed Fernando Verdasco out of the first round of the Stockholm Open.
The Asian ace, trying desperately to polish his sagging No. 55 standing in the game after once being ranked ninth in the world, began a European run by following up a Bangkok semi-final and third round at Tokyo this month.
The top Asian said he's not putting on any pressure as he closes out his season this month before returning home to undergo a Thai ritual of living briefly as a monk, a once-in-a-lifetime tradition for young men in the kingdom.
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