Alexander Zverev bounced back from his early exit at Wimbledon by beating Adam Walton in straight sets at the Canadian Open.
Zverev, who reached the Australian Open final in January, has had a largely underwhelming season, but with Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Jack Draper and Novak Djokovic all skipping the Canadian Open, the German will be hoping to make his status as top seed count.
The 28-year-old triumphed 7-6 (8-6) 6-4, though he did have to hit back from 5-3 down in the tie-break.
Zverev, who came out on top from a 52-shot rally at one stage, dropped just three points on serve.
"It was a very important moment, a very important point for me," Zverev said. "Lucky to get through in the first set and finishing it off in two.
"Sometimes it’s about winning a match, [despite] not always playing your best.
"I know it wasn’t the prettiest match, for sure, but I haven’t played a match in four weeks. I took some time off, which I needed. I’m happy to be playing again."
A potential challenger for the world number three in Toronto could be Daniil Medvedev.
The former world number one started his campaign with a 7-6 (7-3) 6-4 win over Dalibor Svrcina.
Data Debrief: Zverev closes in on landmark win
Zverev has now won 499 career ATP-level matches.
Of those wins, 275 have come from the start of the 2020 season. In that time, only world number one Sinner (278) has won more matches on the ATP Tour than Zverev.
Medvedev, meanwhile, is one of just three players born after the start of 1990 to hold a 70+% win rate on hard court at ATP Masters 1000 events, along with Sinner and Alcaraz (minimum 10 matches played).
