Top seed Lleyton Hewitt opened his US hardcourt season with a 6-0 7-5 victory over American Cecil Mamiit in the first round of the Mercedes-Benz Cup.
Playing his first match since losing in the first round of Wimbledon last month, Australian Hewitt stunned a hapless Mamiit in the first set with his fierce groundstrokes.
Mamiit came out of his stupor in the second to put up a fight but the 2002 Wimbledon champions was simply too strong and booked his place in the second round against another American, Michael Joyce.
Former US Open champion Marat Safin's comeback from injury was short-lived as he was forced to retire against India's Prakash Amritraj midway through the first set of their game.
