PARIS, Oct 29: After four months away from the courts following a doping ban, Marin Cilic felt like a kid playing for the first time at the Paris Masters here on Monday.

The Croatian, whose ban was reduced from nine to four months by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), was overjoyed just to be able to play again while beating Dutchman Igor Sijsling 5-7, 6-1, 6-4 in the first round.

“I felt like a kid playing for the first time,” Cilic told a news conference. “The feeling was amazing just to be back on the court, to be competing and I enjoyed every moment.

“My thoughts were just on how much I am enjoying it and how I am happy to be back on the court.”

Cilic was initially banned for nine months in September after the International Tennis Federation (ITF) said he had failed a test for the banned stimulant nikethamide.

On Monday he explained that he had tested positive for the metabolite of nikethamide.

“It shows that nikethamide was in the system some time before and it’s completely inactive and doesn’t have any effect on the body,” he said. “I’m definitely waiting for the CAS decision in writing and waiting what the ITF will say with all these things.”

Also on Monday, in a programme which featured only unseeded players, Kei Nishikori of Japan and Spaniards Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco won their first-round matches.

Nishikori saved all four break points he faced in his 6-4, 6-2 win over Julien Benneteau of France. Nishikori will play French number one Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for a place in the last-16.

Lopez outlasted Bernard Tomic of Australia 6-4, 6-7, 7-6. Lopez failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set but clinched the match in the third when he won the last six points of the tiebreaker.

Lopez will meet Stanislas Wawrinka with the Swiss seventh seed looking to wrap up his first ever appearance at the London Masters with a good run this week.

Wawrinka is battling with compatriot Roger Federer, and French duo Richard Gasquet and Tsonga for the final tickets to the eight-man tournament in the English capital.

Verdasco edged Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6, 7-6 despite blowing a 3-0 lead in the second set and converting only one of 11 break points.

On a disappointing day for French players Jeremy Chardy and Adrian Mannarino were also eliminated.

There was a French winner in the final match of the evening as 22-year-old qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, ranked 189th in the world, upset compatriot Benoit Paire, ranked 26th, winning 6-2, 6-2 to set up a dream match with Novak Djokovic.

Results:

First round: Pierre-Hugues Herbert (France) bt Benoit Paire (France) 6-2, 6-2 ; Kei Nishikori (Japan) bt Julien Benneteau (France) 6-4, 6-2; Philipp Kohlschreiber (Germany) bt Andreas Seppi (Italy) 6-3, 3-6, 6-4; Fernando Verdasco (Spain) bt Ernests Gulbis (Latvia) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5); Marin Cilic (Croatia) bt Igor Sijsling (Netherlands) 5-7, 6-1, 6-4; Feliciano Lopez (Spain) bt Bernard Tomic (Australia) 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-1); Robin Haase (Netherlands) bt Denis Istomin (Uzbekistan) 7-6 (8-6), 6-3; Santiago Giraldo (Colombia) bt Adrian Mannarino (France) 6-3, 2-6, 6-4; Lukas Rosol (Czech Republic) bt Jeremy Chardy (France) 6-3, 6-4.—Agencies