Thursday evening, John McEnroe returned to play on the Outback Champions Series tennis circuit defeating fellow American Jimmy Arias 6-2, 6-2 in front of a sold-out crowd in his opening round-robin match. McEnroe broke his former Davis Cup teammate twice in each set and displayed pinpoint serving and deft touch that kept Arias off balance for most of the evening. In their last meeting, Arias chalked up his lone career victory over McEnroe, registering one of the biggest upsets in Outback Champions Series history in defeating the three-time Wimbledon champion 7-5, 6-2 in round-robin play in the Cayman Islands in April. Magnus Larsson of Sweden also won his opening round-robin match at the event Thursday defeating Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 7-6 (9), 6-2.

Heading into Friday, John McEnroe and Todd Martin both notched wins to stay undefeated in round-robin play at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships at Surprise. McEnroe won the first eight games of the match in beating Anders Jarryd of Sweden 6-0, 6-4, while Martin gutted out a 7-6 (2), 6-3 win over another Swede, Magnus Larsson. Also registering wins Friday in round-robin play were Wayne Ferreira and Jim Courier – Ferreira beating Karel Novacek 6-1, 6-2 and Courier besting Jimmy Arias 6-3, 6-4.

Despite losing his final round-robin match Saturday afternoon to Jim Courier 7-6 (7), 4-6, 10-8, McEnroe advanced into the championship match as the winner of Round Robin Group B in a three-way tie-breaker. Jarryd, a head-to-head winner over Courier on Wednesday night, will play in Sunday’s third-place match against fellow Swede Magnus Larsson.

In Round Robin Group A action, Martin edged Wayne Ferreira of South Africa 3-6, 7-6 (4), 10-8 (Champions Tie-breaker) in the final match played Saturday evening to finish play with a 3-0 record. After losing the first set on two service breaks, Martin rolled to a 5-2, two-service-break lead in the second set. Ferreira, however, fought back to square the set at 5-5 and eventually forced a tie-breaker. Martin jumped to a 4-1 lead and held on to win the tie-breaker 7-4. In the decisive Champions Tie-breaker – a 10-point tie-breaker played in lieu of a third set - both players split the first 12 points, before Martin reeled off three straight points to lead 9-6. After Ferreira won two straight points to close the gap to 9-8, Martin hit an ace to close out the victory.

In a windy and wild final Sunday, John McEnroe finally broke his final-round hex versus Todd Martin, saving three match points to win the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Tennis Championships at Surprise. After losing to Martin in three previous finals on the Outback Champions Series circuit, the 49-year-old McEnroe broke through to beat Martin 3-6, 7-6 (3), 11-9 (Champions Tie-breaker) to claim the win.

Playing in severe desert wind gusts of up to 35 mph that knocked over courtside umbrellas and chairs, McEnroe faced triple match point with Martin serving for the match leading 6-3, 6-5, 40-0. McEnroe, however, clawed his way back to break Martin’s serve and force a second-set tie-breaker. With the second-set tie-breaker tied at 3-3, McEnroe won the final four points, benefiting from a Martin double-fault on the final point, to force the decisive Champions Tie-breaker. McEnroe took an early 5-1 lead in the Champions Tie-breaker and held on to reach double-match point at 9-7. McEnroe then committed two errors for 9-9, before Martin’s missed forehand gave McEnroe his third match point at 10-9. McEnroe then closed out the match with an ace, using his signature left-handed slice serve out wide on the ad-court to finish the epic match in style.

Next up on the Outback Champions Series will be the Emirates NBD’s The Legends “Rock” Dubai. Make sure to check www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com for updates on the 2009 tour.