Top-seeded American Andre Agassi has returned from back problems to score an easy win over Frenchman Jean-Rene Lisnard in the opening round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup tennis tournament in Los Angeles.
Playing for the first time in two months, Agassi rolled to a 6-1, 6-0 victory over the unseeded Lisnard on Tuesday. Agassi last played in May when he lost in the first round of the French Open, but Tuesday he covered the court well, moving crosscourt several times to chase down shots.
Defending champion Tommy Haas of Germany played for the first time since tearing a ligament in his right ankle at Wimbledon and also won in straight sets. He defeated Croatian Ivo Karlovic, 6-4, 6-4.
Number-three Nicolas Kiefer of Germany is also out of the tournament, after retiring with respiratory problems while trailing American James Blake 3-2 in their first set.
In other matches, second-seeded Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia defeated countryman Karol Beck 6-4, 6-1, and qualifier Zack Fleishman upset ninth-seeded fellow-American Vincent Spadea, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4.
Other players advancing to the second round were Amir Hadad of Israel, Gilles Muller of Luxembourg, Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic, Robbie Ginepri of the United States and Dmitry Tursunov of Russia.
Some information for this report provided by AP