Tommy Haas made light of his 36 years to open the defence of his Munich Open title with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Colombia’s Alejandro Falla on Thursday.
Haas, the second seed and ranked 16 in the world, took his career dominance over the South American to 5-1 with a 74-minute win in his first match since a fourth-round exit to Roger Federer at Indian Wells in March.
He had been sidelined in recent weeks with a right shoulder injury.
“I’m pretty happy with the win, obviously, having been laid off for a couple of weeks and not knowing how the injury would be,” said the German veteran.
“I’m really happy with the way I played. It’s always great to play in front of a full crowd at home in Germany. He’s the kind of player you have to play great tennis against to beat him otherwise you beat yourself.”
Top seed Fabio Fognini of Italy also made the quarter-finals with a 7-6 (7/4), 6-2 win over German wild card Dustin Brown.