Fifth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime saved a match point to overcome German home hope Maximilian Marterer in Munich in the first round of the BMW Open on Tuesday.
Auger-Aliassime won 6-7 (7-5), 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-3) after three hours, 24 minutes and set up a last 16 clash against Japan's Taro Daniel.
The Canadian trailed 2-5 in the decider and served to stay in the match on three occasions.
"Crazy match, one of the craziest I’ve played," Auger-Aliassime said. "In the end, I got a bit lucky. Luck was on my side saving the match point. I’m really happy to still be alive in this tournament and to give myself a chance to play again."
The home crowd was again disappointed after seventh seed Dominik Koepfer was defeated 7-6 (7-3), 6-3 by 2019 BMW Open champion Cristian Garin, who will now face Alex Michelsen in the last 16.
But they were still given something to celebrate as Yannick Hanfmann closed the day by rallying past eighth seed Alexander Shevchenko 6-7 (6-8), 6-3, 7-5.
Top favourite Alexander Zverev starts after a first-round bye on Wednesday against Austrian Jurij Rodionov.