tennis

 Argentine Juan Del Potro fired seven aces as he ended 

                                    

11 months of tennis injury exile with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) defeat of

Sergiy Stakhovsky at the Sydney international on Tuesday.Del Potro, who underwent left wrist surgery last spring and has beenrecovering ever since, showed he still has the drive and desire as hefights to return to the number four ranking he onceheld.The South American advanced into the second round on a grey day in81minutes, never facing a break point against his Ukrainian opponent.

The wild card winner moved into a second-round match with Italian topseed Fabio Fognini, only player from the top 20 in the ATP draw atthe dual-sex event.Del Potro was understandably pleased to be back in action afterplaying his last match in February when he had to quit in Dubai.

"It's time to get back on the train again, this tournament is veryspecial to me," said the defending champion.

Del Potro currently stands 338 on the ATP as he tests himself fornext week's return to the grand slams at the Australian Open.2013 winner Bernard Tomic booked his second-round spot with a defeatof Dutch qualifier Igor Sijsling 6-1 6-2 which took a mere 43minutes.

The women's draw lost its top seed when Simona Halep had to pulled

out due to illness.The world number three Romanian arrived in Australia with a Shenzhen title in hand but found herself unable to play due to stomach illness

picked up in China.

She had been due to face Czech Karolina Pliskova, who laser crushed

Nicole Gibbs of the US love-love.On court, Spain's Carla Suarez Navarro upset Russian sixth seedEkaterina Makarova 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 while Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkovaadvanced when American Madison Keys retired 4-6, 4-1.