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Jim Courier wasted little time in taking care of Petr Korda.

The 2006 Outback Champions Series season-long points winner facing a player still getting himself back into playing shape had an expected outcome. Courier beat Korda, 6-1, 6-3, with the Czech mounting a bit more of a challenge in the second set of the final match of the Oliver Group Champions Cup's first day at The Players Club & Spa at Lely Resort.

"Petr, if you give him a chance, if he gets on top of a rally, you can see what he's capable of,'' Courier said. "He hits the ball so cleanly. ... There's really nothing you can do. You watch him hit winners. So I came out trying to get him moving and trying to be offensive. And I served well. That was really good for me today.''

Korda only played in this event in the series last year. He was busy with family obligations, dealing with some food poisoning and poor play.

"Playing a match after a long time under the lights, I was struggling big time,'' Korda said. "For me, I call it like a road to recovery right now because since I retired, I didn't have so much fun around the courts. I hadn't done any working, but in the last three weeks, the last month, I've been starting to do some exercises and I'm having a ball right now.''

"I hope by the time we get to the summer, I'll be in very good shape,'' he added.

Aaron Krickstein lost the opening match in a pro-set tiebreaker to Mats Wilander in Naples last year.

Not this time.

Krickstein rallied in the second set to win 6-4, then dominated the tiebreaker, scoring six of the first seven points en route to a 10-6 win in the opening match.

Krickstein lost the first point of the tiebreaker last year and never recovered.

"We played last year first and I lost the first set in this match and came back and ended up losing the tiebreaker,'' Krickstein said. "There was a tough point last year and I happened to lose it and the momentum kind of swung his way. Not that the first point is that big, but it's certainly nice to get it, especially on your own serve.''

"It was a good start and I didn't really play well when I had to,'' Wilander said.

Thursday night, Pat Cash plays Wayne Ferreira, starting at 7 p.m., followed by John McEnroe and Jimmy Arias. For tickets, call 877-332-8499 or go to www.championsseriestennis.com or buy them on-site. Tickets start at $15.

All Outback Champions Series events feature eight-man round-robin match formats with the winner of each four-player division meeting in the title match while second-place finishers in each division play in the third-place match.

Each event features $142,000 in prize money with an undefeated winner taking home $50,000 as well as Outback Champions Series ranking points that will determine a year-end champion. Courier won the Naples event last year, defeating Cash 6-4, 7-6 (8) in the championship match.

To be eligible to compete in the Outback Champions Series, players must have reached at least a Grand Slam singles final, been ranked in the top five in the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team.

In the first set, Krickstein battled back after being broken to get within 5-4, but lost on his own serve when he hit a backhand wide.

"I missed some shots in the first set I normally wouldn't miss,'' Krickstein said. "My forehand was a little bit rusty in the beginning.''

In the second, Krickstein was broken in the sixth game for a 3-3 tie, but broke right back to lead 4-3 and went on to win, 6-4.

"I used to be a good front-runner and I used to be able to figure out once I got even, I used to be able to figure out exactly my chances percentage-wise what to do and what not to do,'' Wilander said. "As I come up in age, I feel that I'm better coming from behind the last little bit. Once I'm supposed to nail the coffin up, I kind of lose track of what I've been doing to get to that point. I think that's exactly what happened there.''

"I hit some good serves when I thought I needed to,'' Krickstein said.