The Swiss admitted afterwards he had struggled with his return and lacked rhythm but despite facing a number of break points his back-hand and deft touch at the net remained his most potent weapons as he edged a nervy third set.
However, Monfils, ranked 17th in the world, regained his nerve in the next game to break back and put his country 1-0 up.
Unlike UK Prime Minister David Cameron, Mr Obama didn't feel the need to break his holiday and travel back to work, although he does have the excuse that he is taking a break, such as it is, in his own country.
Murray looked to be heading for an early exit when he feebly dropped his opening service game of the second set but battled back strongly to break his Serbian opponent twice in succession.
When I catch up with him on Friday morning--after he has cut short his Thanksgiving break, flying back to Tallahassee, Fla.
After the opening two sets were shared, Paris Masters winner Djokovic gained an early break in the decider, but came under pressure on his own service as he saved break back points in a marathon sixth game, but then finally succumbed as he served for the match at 5-4, Davydenko finally leveling on his fifth break point.
Djokovic was starting to dictate with his forehand as he had against Federer and he consolidated the break to move 4-1 clear, only to miss a game point on his next serve and allow Nadal back into it with a heavy backhand on his third break point.
Oosthuizen caught a break when his ball bounced off a tree back into the first cut.
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But Dodig hit back with his first break of the match and the set eventually went to a tie-break.
If an agent got too close, Wolf would be forced to break up the relationship by recalling his agent back to the East.
After five years working as an acrobat on his first show, the gymnast hurt his back and needed a break, so took a job as a coach for one of Cirque's traveling shows in Europe.
This was a stunning show of power tennis from the 26-year-old and it felt like he would cruise over the line, but Ferrer had other ideas and dipped into his renowned energy reserves to break back in game eight and square the set at 5-5.
And although the 26-year-old Lopez did claw one break back, the mercurial Safin held his nerve to seal the match.
Thinking back on his early days of break dancing, Drury thought he could make the idea of weight loss through dancing relevant to the public.
Ireland quickly replied with a score of their own with full-back Duffy's superb break from his own half setting up McFadden for his second try.
In the third, Massu had a chance to claw something back when he earned his first break point at 1-1, but Murray nullified the threat before breaking him twice.
Russian number one Safin lost the first set of his match on a tie-break but came back strongly to win the next two 7-5 7-5, before closing out the match 6-1 as the Argentine crumbled.
But Treviso responded with their first try of the game when full-back Brendan Williams finished off his own break and Burton added the two points.
As if United were not struggling already, Arshavin was introduced at the break and his trickery immediately had the English champions on the back foot.
Steve Collins romped in within 60 seconds of the re-start after a brilliant break by his skipper Tony Grimaldi and then teenage half-back Richard Horne showed his dazzling footwork for another try.
In fact, he's ready to reveal his agenda for the second hundred days and bring his truly weary forces back from their Easter break to wrestle the budget into balance through hundreds of billions of dollars of spending cuts.
But he broke straight back, and then crucially took his third break-point in the ninth game to serve for the match.
Gale converted all three tries but Sinfield brought his side back into the game just before the break when he went through a yawning gap in the visitors' defence for a solo try.
The opening game of the second set lasted 12 minutes before Murray finally won it on his fifth break point, only to hand the break straight back within moments in a woeful game.
It was panic stations for the Briton and he responded by reverting to the scrambling skills that are the bedrock of his game, forcing the errors from Baghdatis to break back for 1-1 when the Cypriot failed to make a smash.
After Granollers won the first set 6-3, Murray took a long injury break early in the second set, getting his left thigh and lower back massaged.
Eduardo made it back to action within a year of his leg break and marked his return with a brace in an FA Cup tie with Cardiff.
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After the break Sean McAllister came close to pulling one back for Wednesday, but his goalbound shot was well blocked by Michael Morrison.
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