Scotland's Andy Murray made a triumphant return at the Montreal Masters on Tuesday, vindicating his decision not to rush back from a wrist injury.
Murray, seeded 13th, defeated luckless Robby Ginepri 6-4, 6-4 to keep the American without a win in four attempts north of the border.
After going down a break in the second set, Ginepri threw is racket at his chair and kicked over his on-court nameplate.
Murray, in contrast, was the picture of cool as he calmly resumed a career blocked by a right wrist tendon injury on May 15 in Hamburg.
The 20-year-old said that after postponing his return several times, he was in no rush.
"I just felt like it was not worth having waited 11 weeks, going out and just playing a match for the sake of it," said the man who missed both Roland Garros and Wimbledon. "I just wanted to get ready for this week because this week is guaranteed to count for my ranking. I needed to play here."
Ginepri, who had the best season of his career in 2005, has won just six matches this season and has not defeated Murray in three career attempts.
Murray next faces world No. 138 Fabio Fognini from Italy, with No. 1 seed Roger Federer all but certain to be facing the winner in the third round.
The victory saw Murray improve his season's win-loss record to 25-7, with a title in San Jose in February and a finals appearance in Doha, Qatar.
Marion Bartoli's struggle to find the form that swept her to a surprise Wimbledon final continued on Tuesday as she fell in the first round of the US$600,000 Los Angeles Classic hardcourt tournament.
The sixth seed from France, who received a first-round bye, fell to Russian Maria Kirilenko 7-6 (7/2), 6-3.
Bartoli, who had never made it past the fourth round in a Grand Slam until her Wimbledon run, had lost in the second round at Stanford and third round at San Diego prior to her early exit here.
Bartoli had won her two previous encounters with Kirilenko.
Eugenie Bouchard already has her own signature pickleball paddle. She is No. 17 in the pickleball rankings and constantly appears on the main court at events because she is always a big draw. However, just to be absolutely clear, she is not retired from tennis. The 2014 Wimbledon finalist still practices on the tennis court, still competes at tennis events and still has a Women’s Tennis Association ranking (No. 1,288). The Canadian standout just has a new sport that has caught her attention. Bouchard is one of several familiar tennis names — like Jack Sock and Donald Young — crossing over to
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