Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci defeated number 19 seed Pablo Cuevas to earn a place in the third round of the Miami Masters.

Cuevas got off to a strong start as he put the 27-year-old on the back foot with two breaks of serve in the first set, before serving out to clinching it 6-2.

However, Bellucci battled back in the second set with an array of impressive groundstrokes, breaking the Mexican three times in the set, and he managing to fend off challenges to his own serve to level the scores with a 6-2 win.

Both players matched one another stroke for stroke in the deciding set as the scores were level at 5-5 before Bellucci earned the crucial break, and he managed to display composure to secure a 7-5 victory and clinch the match.

Bellucci will now play Alexandr Dolgopolov in the third round of the competition.