Roger Federer overcame a late wobble to beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez on his return to action at the Monte-Carlo Masters.
The world number three was playing his first match since the Australian Open and needed only an hour and a quarter to defeat his Spanish opponent 6-3 6-4.
Federer suffered a knee injury running a bath for his young daughters and underwent surgery on February 3. He had planned to return in Miami three weeks ago but was forced to pull out through illness.
The Swiss looked sharp and would have won more handsomely had Garcia-Lopez not fought back from 5-1 down in the second set.
But it was nevertheless a highly satisfactory return for Federer at a tournament where he has reached the final four times but never lifted the trophy.
Second seed Andy Murray was made to work harder but survived a decider to beat French qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert 6-2 4-6 6-3 in the second round.
Grigor Dimitrov was unable to find the form that saw him beat Murray in Miami as he lost 6-4 6-3 to 15th seed Gilles Simon while 11th seed David Goffin was an impressive 7-5 6-0 winner over Feliciano Lopez in round one.
Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated youngster Borna Coric 6-4 6-4 and there were also wins for Fernando Verdasco, Taro Daniel, Damir Dzumhur, Pablo Cuevas and Joao Sousa.
Source: PA
