A ring-rusty Roger Federer stuttered into the second round of the Cincinnati Masters on Monday, the top seed edging a 7-6, 7-5 victory over resurgent American James Blake.
Earlier, former US Open champion Andy Roddick recovered from his disappointing opening round defeat last week to beat Austrian Juergen Melzer 6-3, 6-4.
It was Federer's first match since his Wimbledon victory at the beginning of July, and the world number one made a series of uncharacteristic errors but rallied from 3-0 down in the second set to clinch a hard-fought victory.
Fresh from a final appearance at Washington earlier this month, a confident Blake produced some spectacular winners and forced the only break point of the opening set in the ninth game.
Federer saved it though, and then took the tiebreak 7-3 to move ahead.
The Swiss has always struggled at this event, winning just one of his four previous matches in Cincinnati, and a lapse in concentration allowed Blake to lead 3-0.
As a deciding set loomed, Federer raised his level of play to break back to 3-3, and after saving three break points in the next game, he broke in the 11th game before serving out for victory.
"It was really what I expected," Federer said.
"I was disappointed at times where I just couldn't make all the returns I wanted to. It just shows how the eye is not quite there like it was maybe at Wimbledon, obviously, in the finals.
Federer, who will next meet German Nicolas Kiefer, took time off after Wimbledon to recuperate and Cincinnati will be his only tournament before he defends his US Open title.
"Mentally and physically I'm feeling good and it's just about getting the time on my racquet."
A week ago, fifth seed Roddick lost to unseeded Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu in the first round of the Montreal Masters but the American was able to overpower Melzer in one hour 17 minutes.
Roddick, who defeated Juan Carlos Ferrero to win the US Open in 2003, now plays the Spaniard in round two.
'WEIRD MATCH'
"It was kind of a weird match for me because I wasn't serving that well [against Melzer], so it was like a backwards match for me," Roddick told reporters.
"But that's a good thing because I'm pretty confident my serve will come around. I had lots of opportunities to break, which was good for me.
"I played Ferrero in the final of the US Open less than two years ago and now it's a second-round match. I think it would be arrogant if I said [the big threat this week was] anybody but my next opponent."
Tim Henman produced an improved performance to crush Nicolas Massu of Chile 6-2, 6-1.
The Briton, who had lost both matches since his second-round defeat at Wimbledon in June, took advantage of a lacklustre display by Massu to set up a second-round tussle with Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina.
"It was much better today, in terms of the result," Henman said.
"I've been playing as well in practice as I have in years and I know that if I just remain patient, then the hard work will pay off. I just have to keep building."
Argentine Guillermo Coria, the ninth seed, beat Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand 6-4, 6-2 but Croatian Ivan Ljubicic (14) and Czech Radek Stepanek (15) were beaten by Frenchmen Fabrice Santoro and Gael Monfils respectively.
Andre Agassi, the defending champion, pulled out of the event to protect his troublesome back injury.
The US Open starts on August 29.