CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) -- While Rafael Nadal hitched a ride on the private jet charter of Roger Federer for a two-hour flight from Canada on Monday, unseeded Nicolas Kiefer got down to work at the Cincinnati Masters.

The German has come back strong after nearly a year nursing a wrist injury followed by a knee niggler last month which prevented him from playing a semifinal in Los Angeles.
Kiefer showed solid form as he dealt more disappointment to struggling Marat Safin, defeating the former world number one 6-3, 7-6 (7/1) in the first round of this 2.2-million-dollar tournament.
The Russian was quick to shrug off any disappointment.
""I'm not going to kill myself and feel bad for next month and a half,"" he said. ""It happened, it happened. It's not like it's last day of my life.""
Safin said that he is still trying to reconstruct his game after his knee injury which kept him below par for 18 months or more. His immediate priority is to lift his ranking from its current 24th.
""It will take a couple months to get used to it and then you will see the difference. I don't really care about the results right now.
""I'm aiming to be in the top 20. If it's not this year it's going to happen next year. If not next year, there's many years to come,"" said the 27-year-old, who reached the third round in Washington and the quarterfinals in Los Angeles in recent weeks, but hasn't threatened for a title since early March when he reached the Las Vegas semifinals.
While lesser lights took the court on the opening day of the last big event prior to the start of the U.S. Open on August 27, world number one Federer and his friend and rival Nadal were likely comparing notes during their flight from Montreal to Cincinnati.
The top two players in the world were both shown the door by surging Serb Novak Djokovic, who beat Nadal in the semis and Federer in Sunday's final in the Montreal Masters.
The breakthrough -- Djokovoc became the first man to beat both of the kingpins in the same event -- thrust the 20-year-old into the spotlight as a contender at every tournament he plays.
Djokovic, the world number three and seeded fourth with a bye in the first round, will open today against former Roland Garros champion and 2002 Cincinnati winner Carlos Moya, who beat slumping Argentine David Nalbandian 7-6 (7/4), 7-6 (7/2).
Luckless Briton Tim Henman, the 2000 finalist, finds his ranking in freefall after suffering his third straight first-round defeat, going out to Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.
Henman, ranked 92nd, admitted that he's starting to break down as his fragile back feels the strain of hardcourt play.
""I'm coming back on to hardcourts and struggling with my back again,"" said the 32-year-old. ""That's been an issue for quite some time. It's just the constant pounding on the courts, wear and tear issues.
""It's just you feel like you're just playing in pain most of the time. Playing on the hardcourts it's always going to be pretty tough on the body.""
The veteran wants to soldier through next week and play in New Haven before taking a stab at the U.S. Open.
""I've played enough matches in my career to know what I can and can't do and should and shouldn't be doing,"" he said. ""We'll just see how it goes.""
In other matches Monday, Croatian Ivan Ljubicic, seeded 11th, picked up his first victory since the Wimbledon second round, defeating American Amer Delic 1-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-3