Britain’s Andy Murray earned his first tour-level win since August with a gritty fightback against Dutch wildcard Robin Haase at the Rotterdam Open.
Former world number one Murray, now ranked 123rd, won 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 6-3 in the first-round match.
The 33-year-old Scot, whose career has been derailed by a series of injuries, could play Russia’s Andrey Rublev next.
Earlier, fellow Briton Cameron Norrie earned a dominant first-round win over Georgia’s Nikoloz Basilashvili.
Murray joined him in the second round after showing all of fighting qualities to see off Haase, who is ranked 193rd in the world, in a physical two-and-a-half-hour match.
Murray struggled in an opening set as Haase hit confidently and cleanly, but the three-time Grand Slam champion improved – helped by loudly geeing himself up and even thumping himself on the forehead – to turn the match around.
He played a superb tie-break to win the second and then, after trailing 3-0 in the decider, upped his level again to win six games in a row and seal victory.
Russian fourth seed Rublev, who reached the Australian Open quarter-finals last month, must beat American Marcos Giron on Tuesday to secure a second-round meeting with Murray.
British number three Norrie continued a decent start to the 2021 season by beating 40th-ranked Basilashvili.
The 25-year-old won the first seven games of the match, going on to wrap up a 6-0 6-3 victory in little over an hour.
Norrie, who came through qualifying, will play Switzerland’s Stan Wawrinka or Russia’s Karen Khachanov next.
