Tommy Haas didn’t miss that feeling.

The 38 year old, who’s embarking on his final comeback, led Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili by a set and a break during their first-round match at the Delray Beach Open on Tuesday. But then Haas’ lack of recent match experience struck.

Leading 4-3 in the second set, Haas was broken and fell in the 18-point tie-break. Basilashvili cruised in the decider, breaking twice to move into the second round 6-7(4), 7-6(8), 6-2 and end Haas’ run in south Florida.

“Overall it was good,” Haas said. “It just sucks when you’re that close to possibly winning a match and you don’t win. I haven’t had that feeling in a long time… and it’s not a good feeling.”

It was Haas’ first complete singles match in 16 months, since October 2015, when he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna. Haas played at the Australian Open last month but retired after two sets because of fatigue. He hasn’t won a tour-level singles contest since the 2015 Wimbledon.

“I’m just trying to find my game, just trying to go out there and compete and possibly play the game to a level that I feel comfortable at. But it’s so tough when you were out for over a year and you come back and you play like eight events and you’re out for over a year and now it’s your second time back,” Haas said. “So it’s tough for me to see where I’m at, and practice is always different.”

His body mostly held up against Basilashvili, who reached his second tour-level final on Sunday at the Memphis Open (l. to Harrison). Haas had a brief scare during the second set when he felt a tendon in his right quadricep tug on him.

“For a few steps there, up until I got to the sideline, I couldn’t really lift my leg. So I was thinking, ‘Please don’t let it be something too serious’,” Haas said. “It really felt weird. It didn’t really feel like a pop, it just felt like a little stinger.”

He received treatment on it, though, and finished the match without a recurrence.

Tuesday night will most likely be the last time fans see Haas play a singles match at the Delray Beach Tennis Center. The 15-time ATP World Tour titlist underwent foot surgery in April. He has said this latest comeback – his ninth during his 21-year career – will be his final. He’s already working his after-tennis job as the BNP Paribas Open tournament director in Indian Wells.

“I really enjoyed the match against him. I respect him a lot,” said Basilashvili, who had never faced Haas before Tuesday. “Of course for him it’s difficult to come back… It’s sad, of course that he did not go through, but that’s tennis and sports. But I wish him good luck the rest of the season.”

Haas is sticking around Delray Beach. He’s scheduled to play his quarter-finals match with Canadian Vasek Pospisil on Wednesday afternoon.

Read More: Raonic Shines On Delray Beach Debut

Juan Martin del Potro made a tentative, but ultimately successful, 2017 ATP World Tour debut Tuesday night at the Delray Beach Open, posting a 6-4, 6-4 win over Kevin Anderson. In a battle of the former Delray Beach champions, del Potro hit cautiously off his backhand wing and survived a tumble in the first set that left him with a grazed right knee.

The former US Open champion, who has endured three left wrist surgeries (in addition to 2010 surgery on his right wrist), struggled to generate pace on his backhand and mixed in a number of one-handed slices. When Anderson approached the net, del Potro elected to either lob or stretch the South African with well-placed, medium-paced backhands.

But the Argentine’s powerful serve and flat, thumping forehand were enough to steer him to a sixth win in six career FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings with the 6’ 8” Anderson.

“It’s not easy in my first match to show good tennis but I think I did well,” del Potro said. “I survived in the first game of my serve, and then I started to serve much better. I started to feel the ball better and better. And I think for the conditions tonight, we made a good tennis match and always the most important thing is when you don’t feel 100 per cent is trying to win the match and I did.”

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Assessing his backhand, del Potro said, “I think I did well with my slices but I could improve my two-handed backhand a lot. For being my first match of the season, I think it’s okay, but I need to keep working hard and start to find the way to make winners with my backhand as well.”

Of his forehand, he said, “It was effective but I can hit it even better. I made some easy mistakes with my forehand but fortunately not in the important moments. But when I have the confidence on the forehands I can hit it cross-court or down the line; I can play whatever I like, and that’s happened only with my forehand, not with my backhand yet and that’s what I have to work on.”

Del Potro, 28, also began his 2016 season in Delray Beach, reaching the semi-finals. He went on to win 32 matches to finish inside the Top 40 of the Emirates ATP Rankings and to be named ATP Comeback Player of the Year for the second time.

Del Potro required just one break in each set. He converted his fifth break chance of the match for a 4-3 lead in the first set and seized his first break chance for a 2-1 lead in the second set.  The Tandil native next plays the man who beat Anderson last week in Memphis, Damir Dzumhur.

Anderson, the 2012 champion, dropped to 0-2 on the season, following an opening-round loss last week in Memphis. “He made me play a couple of balls in the games I got broken on, and I played some loose points and that basically decided that match,” Anderson said.

Home favourite Thomaz Bellucci received a standing ovation after dismissing Rio Open presented by Claro top seed Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-3 on Tuesday.

Nishikori reached the Argentina Open final last week and won their only previous meeting on the clay at the 2015 Roland Garros in straight sets, but the top-ranked Brazilian put in a commanding display to defeat the World No. 5.

“Actually everything didn’t work well,” said Nishikori. “Probably the condition changed a lot from last week: bounce really high and the balls are really heavy. The ball is the most difficult to adjust. I couldn’t feel anything today. I think it wasn’t my day.”

Bellucci, quarter-finalist in 2014, earned a second-round encounter with countryman Thiago Monteiro. The World No. 85 defeated Gastao Elias 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.

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World No. 8 Dominic Thiem made his way safely through his opening match, defeating former World No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic 6-4, 7-5. The second seed, a semi-finalist last year on his tournament debut, capitalised on three of his five break points en route to the one hour, 35-minute victory. Thiem next faces another Serbian, Dusan Lajovic, as he looks to reach his fourth quarter-final of 2017.

Alexandr Dolgopolov maintained his title-winning form from Buenos Aires last week with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over 2015 champion David Ferrer. Sixth seed Ferrer led their FedEx ATP Head2Head 9-3, however, Dolgopolov managed to repeat his 2014 win in Rio over the Spaniard to advance into the second round.

Two other Spanish seeds avoided the fate of their countryman. Fourth seed Pablo Carreno Busta ousted Brazilian wild card Joao Souza 6-3, 6-2, while fifth seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas beat Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-0. Carreno Busta goes on to face recent Quito champion Victor Estrella Burgos, a 6-2, 7-5 winner over 2016 Rio finalist Guido Pella. Ramos-Vinolas will take on Fabio Fognini, who defeated veteran Spaniard Tommy Robredo 6-2, 6-4 to avenge a straight-sets loss in Buenos Aires.

Argentine Federico Delbonis improved to a 4-0 FedEx Head2Head record against Italian Paolo Lorenzi as he rallied for a 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 win in two hours and 13 minutes.

Nicolas Mahut rode a wave of home-crowd support to upset fifth-seeded #NextGenATP star Alexander Zverev at the Open 13 Marseille on Tuesday. The 35-year-old Frenchman posted a 7-6(5), 7-6(5) result over the German in the pair’s first FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting.

Zverev, nearly 16 years his opponent’s junior, had claimed his second ATP World Tour title two weeks ago at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier. He fell short despite hitting six aces more and winning half of the 144 points played.

Mahut’s victory sets up a second-round meeting with Norbert Gombos. The Slovak posted a 6-1, 6-1 result over fellow-qualifier Evgeny Donskoy.

Richard Gasquet continued a good night session for the home contingent when he knocked out Robin Haase 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-2. The No. 6 seed, coming off a runner-up showing at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier two weeks ago, withstood 14 aces to extend his FedEx Head2Head series with the Dutchman to 4-1. It sets up a second-round showdown with Russian Mikhail Youzhny.

Other French players experienced mixed fortunes at the Open 13 Marseille on Tuesday. Julien Benneteau, the 2010 finalist, prevailed 7-5, 6-4 despite being aced 16 times by fellow wild card, 17-year-old Denis Shapovalov.

But his countrymen Jeremy Chardy and Paul-Henri Mathieu made early exits. Jan-Lennard Struff knocked out Chardy 6-3, 7-5, while Aljaz Bedene fired down 20 aces in a 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 win over 2008 semi-finalist Mathieu.

It was a good day for Ukrainians Sergiy Stakhovsky and Illya Marchenko. Qualifier Stakhovsky posted a 6-2, 6-4 result over Czech Jiri Vesely, while Marchenko saw off Russian Andrey Rublev 6-1, 7-6(6). Stakhovsky claimed 79 per cent of his first-serve points and broke three times to advance, while Marchenko broke four times on his way past the #NextGenATP player.

Top seed Milos Raonic marked his Delray Beach Open debut in emphatic style with a 6-1, 6-4 victory over Tim Smyczek on Tuesday.

The World No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, back in action after a quarter-final showing at the Australian Open, needed just 24 minutes to clinch the opening set against the American qualifier. Smyczek reached the quarter-finals at Delray Beach in 2016, but his challenge looked to be fading when Raonic saved four break points at the start of set two.

The Canadian struck 10 aces and won 90 per cent of points off first serves. He secured the decisive break in the ninth game to book a second-round encounter with #NextGenATP player Borna Coric. The Croatian defeated Santiago Giraldo 6-2, 6-3.

“Overall I have to be happy. I haven’t played much tennis over the last few weeks, and I really put in as much work as I could over the last week to get into my best shape here, and now I’m here. I’ve won my first match and I hope I can continue,” Raonic said. “I feel good.”

In the first match on Stadium Court, top-ranked American Jack Sock prevailed 6-4, 7-6(2) against Moldavian Radu Albot to improve his 2017 match record to 8-1. World No. 21 Sock, who captured his second ATP World Tour singles title at the ASB Classic in Auckland last month, will next face Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.

“It’s probably my eighth time playing here if you count the juniors. I have a lot of experience in Delray. I’ve played the junior clays here numerous times. So I have great memories here,” reflected Sock. “I feel a lot more confident this year, a lot stronger, excited to be back and hopefully for many more years.”