Popular four-time champion David Ferrer has harnessed all his experience and guile to weather a storm from much-hyped Chinese young gun Yibing Wu, winning 7-6 (9-7) 6-4 at the Auckland Classic.
Eighteen-year-old Wu had a breakout 2017, claiming top spot in the junior rankings and winning the boys' singles and doubles US Open titles, while also taking out an ATP Challenger Tour event in China.
And on Auckland's centre court on Monday, he showed what all the fuss was about as he consistently troubled seventh seed Ferrer by lashing heavy groundstrokes past the tour veteran.
Despite taking Ferrer to a first-set tiebreaker, the Spanish former world No.3's class could be seen from the outset.
Wu sent down a powerful serve that Ferrer miscued and skied high in the air.
However, the ball landed in the court and Ferrer was then able to scramble and regain the advantage during the rally as he eventually forced his Chinese opponent to hit the ball long.
It's a game style Ferrer is renowned for - consistency and an ability to keep as many balls in play as possible - and it eventually showed against the brilliant Wu.
Despite pushing Ferrer deep into the opening set tiebreaker, losing 7-9, Wu could not match it in consistency as he made too many errors.
Earlier, last year's classic runner-up Joao Sousa survived a first-round scare to knock out American Donald Young 6-7 (8-10) 6-4 6-2.
Although he dominated on serve, Portuguese world No.57 Sousa battled to get past his 61st-ranked opponent as he dropped the first set in a tiebreaker.
However, Sousa refocused in the second set to claim it 6-4 before racing to victory in the third.
Like Sousa, tournament officials will have also breathed a sigh of relief to see the men's tournament get under way under bright skies after last week's women's tournament had almost been washed out by severe rain.
Russian rising star Karen Khachanov survived a stumble to beat Japan's Yuichi Sugita and advance to the second round.
The diminutive Sugita, who had won the only previous meeting between the pair, conceded plenty of height and serving speed.
But he almost stole the match from the 21-year-old Khachanov, who regained his composure after dropping the second set to win 6-1 3-6 6-4.
Ranked as high as world No.29 during 2017 but at No.48 coming into the Auckland tournament, Khachanov initially looked to have the contest in the bag.
He romped through the first set, before the 175cm-tall Sugita managed to handle his serve in the second.
Sugita, the world No.41, returned deep and scrambled about the court at pace to nullify his 198cm opponent's powerful groundstrokes.
He pushed the match into the third set, before Khachanov held his nerve, scoring easy service points to the claim the win.
Earlier on Monday, men's eighth seed Andrey Rublev withdrew due to a right arm injury.
He has been replaced by lucky loser, Slovakian Lukas Lacko.
