Kei Nishikori fought his way to a 6-3 2-6 4-6 6-2 6-3 victory over Benoit Paire to earn a place in the third round of the 2018 French Open.
The Japanese, 28, has gradually worked his way back to the top level after injury ruled him out of the last few months of the 2017 season.
He was given a tough test by Paire. The flamboyant Frenchman capitalised on a shaky second set from Nishikori and then ramped up the aggression as he hit 11 winner and three aces in set three.
But the Japanese player is a fierce competitor and he showed exactly why he was once as high as World No.4 in the fourth set. He served well, took both his break point chances and only made two unforced errors.
Nishikori looked less assured in the decider but he held on for an important victory. He will now face Gilles Simon in round three after the Frenchman recorded an impressive 1-6 7-6(3) 6-4 6-1 over 12th seed Sam Querrey.
Berdych crashes out
17th seed Tomas Berdych suffered a surprise 6-7(5) 6-7(8) 6-1 7-5 2-6 loss to Jeremy Chardy in a match that started on Tuesday.
The Czech player knew he would face a tough task to overhaul the Frenchman as he was trailing by two sets to love overnight, but he looked odds-on to achieve the comeback when he won the third and fourth sets in some style.
However, Chardy had plenty left to give and hit 11 winners in the decider. He also got a remarkable 90% of first serves in and won 88% of point behind those balls. His reward is a second round clash with compatriot Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who beat Peter Polansky 6-3 4-6 6-2 6-2.
Elsewhere at Roland Garros, David Goffin breezed through to the second round with an emphatic 7-5 6-0 6-1 win over Corentin Moutet, Gael Monfils thrashed Martin Klizan 6-2 6-4 6-4 and Karen Khachanov beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 6-2 7-6(7) 6-7(0) 6-3.
The journey of lucky loser Marco Trungelliti, who drove for eight hours to return to Roland Garros on Sunday as a lucky loser, also came to an end as he was beaten 6-1 7-6(1) 6-1 by Marco Cecchinato.
