World number one Novak Djokovic made a winning return to action at the ATP Swiss Indoors after a six-week injury lay-off.
World number one battles past Malisse in three sets in Basel
World number one Novak Djokovic made a winning return to action at the ATP Swiss Indoors in Basel after a six-week injury lay-off.
The Serb was playing for the first time since injuring his back whilst representing his country in Davis Cup action.
Djokovic was understandably a little rusty and needed three sets to squeeze past Belgium's Xavier Malisse, eventually winning 6-2 4-6 7-5.
Things were straightforward enough for him in the first set, but he was pegged back by his in-form opponent and struggled to close out the match in the decider.
The top seed looked on the verge of victory as he served at 5-3, but surrendered an untimely break as he produced a seventh double-fault on Malisse's fifth break-point.
Lost rhythm
But he eventually got the job done without the need for a tie-breaker as he broke Malisse in what proved to be the final game of the match to book his place in the second round.
"I'm only just back from the biggest injury of my career," Djokovic stated afterwards. "It was a big ask for me to have played really well.
"I could do nothing for four-and-a-half weeks, I've only been hitting for a week-and-a-half. That's not enough to play at my best. I've lost rhythm.
"I had too many errors and too many double-faults. But I'm happy just to be playing tennis again. I hope to build on this performance."
Meanwhile, Mardy Fish's hopes of competing at the ATP World Tour finals in London suffered a worrying blow as he was forced to concede his match against compatriot James Blake after just 11 minutes.
Injury blow
Fish, who was leading 1-0 at the time, withdrew after picking up a hamstring problem which could yet end his hopes of playing in the season finale.
"I didn't see anything. He suddenly started grabbing at his hamstring and had to call the trainer," said Blake.
"It's worrisome that it appeared to happen on one shot and not over the course of a few days, but Mardy is doing the cautious thing, he's gone for an MRI and we will have to see."
Fish currently stands eighth in the points race for London's eight-man field with three spots left up for grabs.
Elsewhere, two more Swiss players joined Roger Federer in the second round, as Stanislas Wawrinka beat Ivan Dodig and Michael Lammer surprised Mikhail Youzhny.
Both men won in straight sets, 2006 semi-finalist Wawrinka came through 6-4 6-4 against his Croatian opponent, while qualifier Lammer sprung a real shock as he eased past Youzhny 6-4 6-3.
Wawrinka will now face either second seed Andy Murray or Dutchman Robin Haase in the next round.
