Ninth seed Tomas Berdych survived a scare on Monday when he fought past qualifier Andrey Kuznetsov, currently No. 78 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final match of the day at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. Berdych goes on to face Benoit Paire or 39-year-old Tommy Haas, the oldest player in the draw, for a place in the third round.
Berdych, who is playing at the Monte-Carlo Country Club for the 13th time in the past 14 years, drew on his big-match experience to prevent Kuznetsov recording one of the biggest wins of his career. The 2015 finalist required two hours for his 14th match win of the season.
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Having survived one break point in the first set, Kuznetsov broke Berdych to love for a 4-3 advantage courtesy of his rock-solid backhand. While Berdych came through a 20-point hold for 3-2 in the second set, he immediately grew in confidence to break Kuznetsov for the first time. The 31-year-old Czech went on to fire a backhand winner down the line in the third game of the decider to break Kuznetsov, who is now 0-3 lifetime at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.
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The Russian, who had earned his place in the main draw by beating former World No. 4 Mikhail Youzhny 7-6(5) in a third set tie-break on Sunday, had Top 10 wins over David Ferrer (2014 Wimbledon) and Stan Wawrinka (2016 Miami) to his name. Berdych had previously beaten Kuznetsov 7-6(4) in a deciding set tie-break in St. Petersburg last year.
Elsewhere, Pablo Cuevas, who captured his third straight Sao Paulo title in March, cruised past 2011 quarter-finalist Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-0 in 78 minutes to break a three-match losing streak against the Serbian.
