Felix Auger-Aliassime saw off the test of unseeded Bosnian qualifier Damir Dzumhur 6-7 (5-7), 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last 16 of the Open Sud de France, but it took him longer than expected.
Despite breaking Dzumhur's serve at the first opportunity, Auger-Aliassime — who failed to get past the first round of the Australian Open — conspired to lose the first set, as his counterpart broke back straight away and eventually closed out the set in the tie-break.
That seemed to be the shot in the arm Auger-Aliassime needed, as the Canadian World No. 21 cruised through the second and third sets — enjoying three breaks of service in the latter, though it still took him two hours, 31 minutes to clinch Tuesday's win.
Victory sets up a second-round clash with France's Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who eliminated Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-2, 7-5, while seventh seed Filip Krajinovic also went through in straight sets, beating Enzo Couacaud 6-4, 6-4.
Kazakhstan's Alexander Bublik will face second seed David Goffin next after a gruelling 6-7 (7-2), 6-1, 7-6 (7-2) win over Henri Laaksonen. Mikael Ymer and Emil Ruusuvuori also secured passage to the last 16.
Win for Duckworth
James Duckworth was the highest seed in action at the Pune Open on Tuesday and the Australian — who is the sixth favourite — had little difficulty getting past Peter Gojowczyk 7-6 (7-5), 6-4.
The home contingent had mixed success. Arjun Kadhe lost out 6-2, 6-4 to Jiri Vesely, but Prajnesh Gunneswaran ousted Yannick Maden 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5) to progress .
Ilya Ivashka, Nikola Milojevic, Egor Gerasimov and Roberto Marcora all made it through as well, the latter set to face top seed Benoit Paire next.
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