Former world number one Andy Roddick was made to sweat by Lukasz Kubot before prevailing with a 4-6 7-6 6-3 win.
Kubot, who has won just once in nine this year, took the first set with a solitary break in game seven.
The 29-year-old Pole then broke again in the ninth game of set two, leaving him to serve for the match.
He failed to hold his nerve though and a fired-up Roddick broke back immediately to save his place in this year's Indian Wells Masters.
Roddick won a tense tie-break with his third set point and then claimed the first break in game seven of the deciding set.
Kubot looked like a broken man after the critical break and his opponent calmly put the contest to bed, by winning the next two games in style.
