ESTORIL, Portugal: Fifth seed Richard Gasquet made a winning return after nearly six weeks out with a back injury as the Frenchman beat Marinko Matosevic of Australia 7-6 (9/7), 6-1 at the Estoril Open on Tuesday.

The former ATP No.7 currently ranked 28th took less than 90 minutes to dispatch the 82nd-ranked Matosevic in the opening round.

Gasquet was one of two French winners as qualifier Kenny De Schepper put out Portugal’s Gastao Elias 6-2, 2-6, 6-3 to move into a second-round meeting with Gasquet.

Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta advanced over Constant Lestienne of France 6-3, 6-1.

Gasquet has played a pair of finals in Portugal, losing to Novak Djokovic in 2007 and Juan Martin del Potro in 2012.

Gasquet last took to a court on cement in Indian Wells on March 15, retiring with a herniated disc in his back against German Michael Berrer in the second round.

The 28-year-old improved to 11-4 on the season after his winning debut on clay.

“I’m feeling better, it’s as important for me to finish the match as win,” said Gasquet. “I’m feeling better than a week ago, I’m more confident with my body.

“I’m very happy with the way I won today. I had no pain, but recovery is a long process. I have nothing to lose and can only get better. I need to play as many matches as possible.

“I’m feeling good now, but I had this injury for three months last year and it came back this year.

“It’s in my head a bit, it’s tough to play right now without thinking about it.”

Gasquet finished with nine aces and three breaks of serve. He won the opening set in a tiebreaker and broke early to dominate the second set on the way to victory.

Matosevic saved match points and forced the seed to salvage a break point in the final game before Gasquet claimed the win.

Nick Kyrgios, the seventh seed who turned 20 on Monday, was awaiting his clay season start after a spring ankle injury, with the Australian starting against Spanish specialist Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Tipsarevic rallies

In Munich, former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic fought back to oust sixth seed Bernard Tomic 5-7, 6-1, 7-6(3), saving one match point in the process.

Serving at 4-5 in the third set, Tipsarevic saved one match point to level the decider at 5-all, and went on to clinch the victory in the third-set tie-break after two hours and seven minutes.

The 30-year-old Serb, whose best result in Munich was a quarterfinal showing in 2013, fired 11 aces and saved seven of the 10 break points he faced to reach the second round, where he will face Victor Estrella Burgos.

Young gun Dominic Thiem came from a set deficit to beat Vasek Pospisil 5-7, 6-4, 7-6 (9), saving two match points in the two hour, eight-minute victory.

The 21-year-old Austrian survived 13 aces from his Canadian opponent and capitalized on three of his six break point opportunities to reach the second round.

Fifth seed and No. 1 German Philipp Kohlschreiber defeated Bucharest runner-up Jiri Vesely 6-1, 6-2 in 56 minutes. He will face compatriot Alexander Zverev in the second round.

Ninth seed Lukas Rosol needed just 54 minutes to beat German Florian Mayer 6-2, 6-2, while Sergiy Stakhovsky sped to a 6-0, 6-0 victory over Mikhail Ledovskikh in 35 minutes.

Radek Stepanek won his first tour-level match of 2015, having been sidelined with injury since last autumn, when his opponent Farrukh Dustov retired down 1-6, 1-4 due to injury.