Hometown favourite Marina Erakovic is through to the second round of the ASB Classic after downing Kazakhstan's Yuli Putintseva in straight sets.
Erakovic won 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (7-3), her ability to string points together in the tie-breakers proving valuable.
She won seven points in the row to take the first set against the 20-year-old Putintseva, who at No.77 is ranked 58 places above her.
There were six in succession in the second set tie-break to take her to the cusp of victory.
The match was the last on court on Tuesday night, went for one hour and 59 minutes and finished early on Wednesday.
It was Erakovic's first singles since a knee injury in the US Open four months ago and the 27-year-old Aucklander came away happy with her performance.
"I thought the levels were good and the points were well structured," she said.
"It's tough when she gets a lot of balls back and you have to be patient. The serve and return are important, so overall I was pretty happy today."
Erakovic will be back on court twice later on Wednesday.
She has a second round singles against Romanian Alexandra Dulgheru, the world No 69.
The pair have met once before, with Dulgheru winning in Madrid in 2013.
Erakovic and Spanish partner Silvia Soler-Espinosa are then in action in the last match of the day, a second round doubles against No.2 seeds Julia Goerges (Germany) and Katarina Srebotnik (Slovenia).
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