Felix Auger-Aliassime, seeded No. 7, advanced to the second round after defeating Italy's Stefano Travaglia 6/7 7/6 6/3.
However, the Canadian almost went out the door in the first round. He was leading 5/2 in the first set, but was pegged back until the tiebreak, which was finally won by Travaglia, ranked 85th in the world.
In the second set, the Italian came within one point of victory in another tie-break between the two players. But "F2A" saved two match points, before taking the lead again and finally finishing with an ace.
Auger-Aliassime is playing in the Open 13 Provence for the second time in his career. He was knocked out in 2018 by another Italian, Thomas Fabbiano. In the second round, the world number 19, who was a finalist last Sunday in Rotterdam, will face Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert.
