leaping back into the tennis fray after six months on the sidelines with a shoulder injury and he walked away a winner.

The two-time US Open champion, who had been recovering from surgery to repair a torn rotator cuff, posted a 6-2 7-6 (7-5) victory over Argentinian Hernan Gumy, the two-time defending Bermuda Open champion, at the Citrix Tennis Championships in his eagerly anticipated return.

Rafter, who missed the 1999 Davis Cup final and this year's Australian Open during his protracted recuperation, had not played since he was forced to retire in the first round of his US Open title defence last August. He spent last week playing in the Founder's Trophy golf tournament at Mid Ocean Club before heading to Florida.

"It's a good feeling coming up with a win,'' a smiling Rafter said yesterday.

"There was a lot of pressure and to come through it was very rewarding.'' The popular Australian did not seem particularly rusty as he raced to a 6-2 5-2 lead.

He said the only moment he felt a twinge in his shoulder was on the first serve of the second set which produced a 115 mph ace.

Although going for a flat serve would have been easier on his shoulder, the slow courts and heavy balls forced Rafter to go for his trademark kick serve to get the job done.

At 5-2 in the second set, Gumy started to push Rafter, who suffered his lone service break in the ninth game.

After forcing the tie-break, Gumy jumped out to a 3-1 lead, but Rafter reeled off the next five points for 6-3 and closed out his season debut on his third match point.

Considering the long lay-off, Rafter was a bit tough on himself in his critique of his game.

"After six months, I should be grateful and should not be picking on myself,'' he said. "I had no depth. I was tight and nervous.

"I can't get that judgmental about things, but I was a little bit unhappy.'' Second seed Karim Alami of Morocco was more than a little unhappy as he lost his opening match to Justin Gimelstob 6-4 2-6 7-6 in most controversial fashion, when he received a point penalty for a second code violation at match point for the American.

The emotional Alami had taken a code violation for racket abuse early in the third set when he broke his racket. Then, trailing 6-2 in the final set tiebreaker, Alami let his temper get the better of him again and swiped his racket on the court in frustration.

The call of a second racket abuse violation coming at that juncture gave Gimelstob the match without him having to close it out on his own.