Martina Hingis made a brisk return to the tournament where injury ended her season last year as she swept past Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the Porsche Grand Prix.

The seventh seed needed just 63 minutes to dismiss her Spanish opponent 6-4 6-2 in the first round.

A year ago at the same venue in Filderstadt, Germany, Hingis tore three ligaments in her ankle during the semi-final.

The injury saw her lose her world number one ranking to Jenifer Capriati and put her out of action for two-and-a-half months.

Hingis has since climbed back to number 10 in the rankings, but said after her win: "You can see in my game that I'm still missing a little speed, which you need on these fast indoor courts.

"And maybe I'm missing a little stamina too."

The 22-year-old insisted she had not thought about her injury when she stepped onto the court.

And she produced some high-quality shots, particularly when bending deep on match point to flip a winning volley down the line.

But she also displayed lingering signs of rust when going from 3-0 to 3-2 with a string of unforced errors in the second set.

However, Hingis then broke Sanchez-Vicario's serve in the next game to finally take control of the match.

France's Amelie Mauresmo, seeded five, also advanced with an easy 6-4 6-0 win against German wild card Barbara Rittner.

And Belgium's world number nine Kim Clijsters enjoyed a 6-4 6-2 win over Russian Anastasia Myskina, ranked three places beneath her.

The top-seeded Capriati and number two Lindsay Davenport play their first matches on Wednesday.

Porsche Grand Prix first round results

6-K Clijsters (Bel) bt A Miskina (Rus) 6-4 6-2
A Stevenson (US) bt M Shaughnessy (US) 6-3 5-7 6-3
7-M Hingis (Swi) bt A Sanchez-Vicario (Spa) 6-4 6-2
5-A Mauresmo (Fra) bt B Rittner (Ger) 6-4 6-0
B Schett (Aut) bt C Rubin (US) 1-6 6-2 6-2
I Majoli (Croatia) bt R Grande (Ita) 3-6 6-4 6-4