Rusty Henman edges through

Henman had to work hard for his victory

T Henman (GB) bt P Srichaphan (Tha) 6-3 6-3

Tim Henman saw off the challenge of Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan in the ATP Masters in Montreal, while injury forced Marat Safin out of the first round.

It was a straight sets victory for Britain's number one but it was a patchy performance in humid conditions.

Henman, making his first appearance in competition for three weeks, was not on the best of form throughout this scrappy encounter, making several unforced errors.

The Briton broke in the third game and had chances to press home his advantage but the 22-year-old from Bangkok never stopped chasing lost causes.

We're finding the way and after six days it's so far so good

  Tim Henman on new coach Larry Stefanki

With a 4-3 lead, Henman stuttered in his service game with Srichaphan battling hard to tie the game.

After eight dueces, Henman managed to hold on.

Srichaphan seemed rattled and his game suffered as a result, handing his opponent the first set without claiming a point on his own serve.

The second set went with serve until the eighth game.

Srichaphan had stepped up a gear and was succeeding with a number of passing shots but his serve finally let him down at a crucial time.

Henman served out to complete the victory and was quick to emphasise that it would take a while for his partnership with new coach Larry Stefanki to bear fruit.

"You can't look at the results straight away," said Henman. "We're finding the way and after six days it's so far so good.

"I felt we had a lot of similar ideas and I was ready to give it a try."

Reigning US Open champion Marat Safin was jeered by the crowd when he retired at 6-4 5-2 down against Frenchman Niclas Escude because of a bad knee.

Everyone's mad at me and it's not nice

  Marat Safin

"It's easy to sit in the stands eating popcorn and drinking beer," Safin said. "I'm trying. What can I do? I don't think it's right to waste the spectators' time and the opponent's time by playing another game or two.

"I don't think the way they treated me when I went off the court was correct. It's the first time it's happened to me. Everyone's mad at me and it's not nice."

Compatriot Yevgeny Kafelnikov was also an opening-day victim.

Kafelnikov, seeded sixth, went out to American veteran Todd Martin 3-6 7-6 (7/3) 6-4.

Germany's Nicolas Kiefer provided the shock of the day after beating 12th seed Thomas Enqvist 6-2 7-5.

Sweden's Andreas Vinciguerra beat Wayne Ferreira 7-6 (7/1) 6-2, Jerome Golmard beat Byron Black 6-2 6-2 and Noam Behr overcame Germany's David Prinosil 6-1 7-6 (7-2).