Andre Agassi beat Radek Stepanek 6-4, 7-5 in the first round of the Dubai Open in Dubai on Monday, the 34-year-old American's first match in the Middle East.
A packed crowd of 5,000 watched the fourth-seeded Agassi win the first 14 points on his serve and produce numerous winners, especially down the line.
Czech Stepanek, a recent finalist in Milan, fired 10 aces but it was his serve that let him down in the second set when he threatened to take Agassi to a decider.
Agassi earned the only break of the first set at 5-4 when Stepanek netted an attempted dropshot at the end of a long rally, but he then played his only weak service game of the match to drop his serve at 3-3 in the second.
Instead of consolidating his lead, however, Stepanek served three double-faults in the next game, including the last two points. Agassi broke serve again in the final game, taking the match when Stepanek netted a backhand volley.
"It was my first match in a while and I was hoping that I would go out there and feel good physically, and I did," said Agassi, whose last match was his quarter-final defeat by Roger Federer at the Australian Open.
"I wanted just to move well and stay positive on all my shots and I was doing that. Maybe there were a few times I could have been more aggressive, but I don't mind as I work my way into an event having to hit a few extra balls.
"It was a good workout, to say the least. I thought it was a pretty good standard match. He's an awkward player because you never quite know when he's going to be aggressive or play good defence. I had to be careful in the second set because he raised his game and made me do the same."
Agassi has been troubled for some time by a hip injury, and he took the painful decision to have an injection directly into the nerve.
"The hip felt real good," he said. "It's been such a sharp pain, so I took the injection for it straight to the nerve, and to not feel the pain when I'm returning serve and lunging is a great feeling."
In other matches, fifth seed Tommy Robredo won the first five games against Olivier Rochus, but then had to battle for two hours, 13 minutes to earn a 7-6, 7-6 victory.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, who has struggled since injuring himself in practice in May, earned a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Germany's Florian Mayer, and Rainer Schuettler swept aside Younes El Aynaoui 6-0, 6-1.
Because of injury, the Moroccan played only five matches last year, and has not won a match since playing the Madrid Masters in October 2003.
There were also wins for Dominik Hrbaty, Fernando Verdasco and Tomas Berdych.
