Czech number two Radek Stepanek survived a scare en route to beating Australian wildcard Samuel Groth 6-7 7-6 6-2 in the opening round of the Sydney International on Tuesday.

Groth, who reached the quarter-finals in Brisbane last week, took the first set by winning the tie-break 8-6.

He was then just two points from victory when he led the second-set breaker 5-3, before Stepanek reeled off four consecutive points.

Every single game had gone with serve in sets one and two, with Groth saving six breaks points and Stepanek saving three.

However, world number 45 Stepanek was able to break his tiring opponent twice in the deciding set, eventually cruising to victory to set up a second-round meeting with either Vasek Pospisil or Sam Querrey.