Mardy Fish made an impressive return to the tour after an 18-month absence but fell just short against fellow American Ryan Harrison in the first round of the BNP Paribas Open on Thursday . Former world No 7 Fish battled for two hours and 36 minutes before losing to fellow American Harrison , 6-4 , 4-6 , 7-6 ( 3 ) . Fish had two match points at 15-40 in the 10th game of the third set , but Harrison wiggled free . After both held serve to force the tiebreak , Harrison won three points in a row to go up 5-2 . Fish 's double fault gave Harrison match point and the 22-year-old closed it out with an ace . Mardy Fish made his return to the tour in Indian Wells on Thursday after an 18-month absence . Ryan Harrison hits a backhand volley on his way to a three-set victory against fellow American Fish . Fish , 33 , had not played on the ATP Tour since August 2013 because of heart problems that have plagued him since March 2012 . A finalist in 2008 , when he lost to Novak Djokovic , Fish said that despite the long layoff the loss to Harrison 'stings a little bit ' . But there were positives . ' I 've worked really hard in the past 3 1/2 months to get back in shape , ' Fish said , 'So , I do n't have any issues sort of during a match or after a match . ' I worked extremely hard to put myself in the best position to not have to worry about things when I was out there - if I was out of shape or if I did n't feel well or if it was going to be a long match or a hot match or something like that , when a lot more things creep into your head . ' Fish chases out to his left to reach for the return in his first-round match at the BNP Paribas Open . Harrison ends up on his back during one point but later progresses to the second round in Indian Wells . American wildcard Tim Smyczek was among those advancing as the men began play on Thursday , but two-time champion Daniela Hantuchova was among those eliminated on the second day of women 's action . The 2002 and 2007 winner was a 6-4 , 1-6 , 6-3 loser to Klara Koukalova of the Czech Republic . Vera Zvonareva , the 2009 champion , also lost , 6-1 , 6-1 to qualifier Polona Hercog of Slovakia , and Chinese qualifier Lin Zhu ousted 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone of Italy . The men will conclude their first round on Friday , while the women begin second round play , highlighted by Serena Williams 's return after a 14-year absence . Williams will face Monica Niculescu of Romania on Friday night . Daniela Hantuchova hits a forehand during her three-set loss to Klara Koukalova on Thursday . Serena Williams speaks to the media during a press conference at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden .
Mardy Fish made his return to the ATP Tour after an 18-month absence . The former world No 6 had been absent due to heart problems . Fish lost 7-4 , 4-7 , 6-7 ( 3 ) in the first round to Ryan Harrison .