Grigor Dimitrov rebounded from a break down in the second set to beat Frenchman Ugo Humbert 6-3 6-4 at the Western & Southern Open, in his first match back since recovering from the coronavirus.
The Bulgarian No.14 seed tested positive for the virus in June following his participation in Novak Djokovic’s Adria Tour and described the experience as one of his “toughest battles” ever.
The former world No.3, who was a semi-finalist at the US Open last year, arrived in New York less than two days prior to his match against Humbert, and did well to dispatch the 22-year-old in 84 minutes.
“I had no expectation coming into the match,” said Dimitrov, a champion in Cincinnati in 2016.
“I arrived like a day and a half ago, I’m so jetlagged right now, it’s crazy. There were a lot of obstacles clearly in the last couple of months, I just have to find a way.”
Dimitrov is still not back to 100 per cent physically, but said he wanted to challenge himself by attempting to compete in New York.
He detailed his struggles with the virus and hopes to serve as an example to other players, who may not be taking COVID-19 as serious as they should be.
“The first week was just tragic, coming out of it,” explained the 29-year-old.
“I started by just walking. I couldn’t really do any exercise, I could not lift weights, I couldn’t play tennis. So all I had to do was walk. I started actually crawling in the house, then walking outside, then slowly started to run a little bit each day.”
Dimitrov next takes on Hungarian qualifier Marton Fucsovics in the second round.
Earlier in the day, Russian No.11 seed Karen Khachanov enjoyed a comfortable 6-4 6-4 win over the tricky Alexander Bublik, who challenged his opponent to a basketball game of one-on-one after the match.
“I destroyed him there, as well, so, you know, he goes home with 2-0 down,” joked Khachanov.
Britain’s Dan Evans took out Russian No.10 seed Andrey Rublev 7-5 3-6 6-2 to set up a second round against Canada’s Milos Raonic.