American seventh seed Donald Young was left counting his blessings after fending off two match points in his first-round win over countryman Austin Krajicek at the Atlanta Open.
Young survived an almighty scare on Monday, saving a pair of match points in the 22-point second-set tie-breaker as he rallied to win 3-6, 7-6 (12-10), 7-5.
The 27-year-old also trailed 5-3 in the deciding set but reeled off four consecutive games to eventually serve out the contest in two hours, 33 minutes at the ATP 250 tournament.
"I didn't want to go out like that," he said. "I didn't want Monday to be my last day at the tournament and have to watch it from my window."
Next up for Young is another American, this time Tim Smyczek.
Smyczek was also forced to dig deep in his three-set win over lucky loser Thiago Monteiro.
Inspired by 10 aces and four converted break points, Smyczek prevailed 5-7 7-6 (7-5) 6-3.
Jared Donaldson secured a showdown with second seed Nick Kyrgios after easing past big-serving Australian Sam Groth 6-4 6-2 in just over an hour.
In other results, Adrian Mannarino saw off qualifier Mischa Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5) while Reilly Opelka outlasted Christopher Eubanks 7-6 (11-9), 7-6 (7-5).
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