Shanghai, Oct 10: Viktor Troicki fought off a strong comeback from Russian No.1 Mikhail Youzhny to reach the second round of the Shanghai Masters tennis Tuesday.
Troicki took the first set before Youzhny surged back into the match with a 93 percent first-serve win percentage in the second set.
Youzhny cancelled out one of Troicki's breaks of serve in the decider but was soon broken again as the Serb recorded a 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 win.
Troicki, the world No.32, will now face fellow Serb and sixth seed Janko Tipsarevic in the second round.
Elsewhere Tuesday, US Open champion Andy Murray is to play Florian Mayer in the second round after the German crushed Australia's Bernard Tomic 6-4, 6-0.
Either French 15th seed Gilles Simon or Ukraine's Alexander Dolgopolov will await the winner in the third round after both won their first-round matches.
Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland is to play Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin in the second round, with the winner a potential third-round opponent for Swiss world No.1 Roger Federer.
Thirteenth seed Wawrinka battled through two tie-breaks to beat Spain's Albert Ramos 7-6(1), 7-6(5), while Istomin stormed back from a set down to oust Argentine player Carlos Berlocq 4-6, 6-2 6-1.
Japan's Kei Nishikori, seeded 14th, knocked out local wildcard Di Wu in a 6-2, 6-4 victory that sets up a match with Sam Querrey of the United States.
