CHENNAI, India, Jan. 5 (UPI) -- Eighth seed Anthony Dupuis of France on Monday needed to save one match point to advance to the second round of the Tata Open.
Dupuis repelled a match point at 5-6 in the third set tiebreaker to pull out a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (8-6) victory over Alexander Popp of Germany, a quarterfinalist at last year's Wimbledon.
Dupuis is coming off a season in which he finished in the top 100 for the fourth time in the last five years and won a personal-best 17 matches on the ATP circuit.
The only other seed in action, No. 7 David Ferrer, reached the next round by rallying past fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco, 1-6, 7-5, 6-0. Ferrer enjoyed his most consistent year on the the tour, winning a career-high 20 matches and reaching his third final.
Prakash Amritraj won a battle Indians, 6-3, 6-4 over Harsh Mankad.
