Dutchman Robin Haase has struggled into the second round of the Swiss Open with a 6-4 6-7 (3-7) 6-3 win over Aleksandr Nedovyesov.
He made heavy weather of what had been looking like a straight-sets win on Tuesday.
Haase, runner-up at the alpine village at 1050 metres a year ago against Russian Mikhail Youzhny, admitted that he was caught out by a persistent case of nerves until finally gaining control in the concluding set.
Spain's Pablo Andujar earned a second-round place as sixth seed Giles Simon had to quit with illness, handing over a 6-2 3-2 win in an unlucky tournament debut which lasted just 63 minutes.
German Jan-Leonard Struff won 6-2 1-0 as Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer pulled up with a left adductor problem.
Seventh seed Haase took nearly two hours to go through over Kazakh Nedovyesov, ranked 99th, who beat him on clay three months ago in Casablanca.
"It was only in the third set that I relaxed for the first time. I was feeling a lot of pressure," said Haase, the ATP No.51.
"I had finalist points to defend from last year, and I've not been playing that well on clay.
"I've played some good matches but I lost them. The same thing happened to me last year, but I was taking confidence from my form then."
Brazil's two time Gstaad winner Thomaz Bellucci (2009, 2012) took the first step toward a potential trophy treble, beating Jurgen Melzer's younger brother Gerald Melzer, a qualifier, 6-3 6-4.
Share
