Andy Murray said he was relieved to come through his first test since his Australian Open final defeat in Dubai.
The British number one survived a epic 34-point second game and an ankle injury to beat Igor Kunitsyn of Russia 6-2 6-3 and reach the second round of the Dubai Tennis Championships.
The world number four was making his first appearance since he lost to 16-time Grand Slam singles winner Roger Federer in Melbourne three weeks ago.
Murray said: "My ankle was sore at the start of the match and I was really out of breath early on. I have not practised that much, or trained that much and there were a lot of long rallies."