Tim Henman today became the million-dollar man as his bid to qualify for the lucrative Masters Cup received a welcome boost in Basle.
The British number one got through his opening test at the Swiss Indoors, just three days after becoming a father for the first time.
Henman showed no signs of rustiness as he powered past France's Cedric Pioline 6-1 6-4 to take his season's earnings past a million US dollars.
Pioline, who reached the Wimbledon final in 1997 - a feat Henman has never achieved - has suffered through injury recently.
Henman is the top seed and defending champion in Basle, having beaten Swiss hope Roger Federer in last year's final.
And he is in need of ranking points this week having fallen to joint seventh in the Champions Race after last week's Masters Series event in Madrid.
He could be excused his second-round exit to Thai Paradorn Srichaphan in the Spanish capital, as understandably his mind was elsewhere, but a similar outcome in Basle would leave him needing a big result at the Paris Masters Series event next week.
With only the top seven players in the Champions Race guaranteed to qualify for the Shanghai-hosted Masters Cup, a £2million end-of-season event which lines the pockets of the richest and best players, Henman knows he cannot let his concentration slip.
And after racing through the opening set, Henman comfortably wrapped up victory as Pioline never regained his footing in the match.
Apart from Davis Cup play, this was Henman's first victory since round two at the US Open in August when he defeated Belgian Dick Norman.
He will be back in action tomorrow against another Frenchman, Nicolas Escude, who advanced when Russian opponent Nikolay Davydenko withdrew from their match after dropping the first set on a tie-break.
PA