Eighth seed Tatsuma Ito avoided a first-round exit at the Kremlin Cup after recovering to fight off a second-set thrashing to beat Argentina's Roberto Bautista-Agut on Monday.
Ito won 6-3, 1-6, 6-2 in a match where the Japanese world No. 63 saw managed just 48 percent of his first serves on target against his 76th-ranked opponent.
Ito now plays one of two as-yet undetermined qualifiers in the second round.
Elsewhere, Denis Istomin will meet Lukas Rosol in the second round after they each won their first-round fixtures, Istomin beating Bjorn Phau while Rosol saw off Daniel Gimeno-Traver.
