Fifth seed Alexander Zverev came through a frustrating first-round match against world number 56 John Millman in the French Open in Paris.
German Zverev, 22, smashed his racquet several times in a 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 2-6 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 win in over four hours.
He broke Australian Millman late in the deciding set to set up a second-round tie with Swedish qualifier Mikael Ymer.
Argentine eighth seed Juan Martin del Potro came through a scare to beat Chile’s Nicolas Jarry 3-6 6-2 6-1 6-4.
Del Potro, 30, won in just over two hours against the world number 58 on Court Suzanne Lenglen.
Zverev, who reached the quarter-finals in Paris last year, has struggled for form since stunning world number one Novak Djokovic to win the ATP Finals in November.
“Everybody keeps on saying I had a tough year. I mean, I’m still number five in the world,” he said.
“So it’s not that bad. Somebody who is having a tough year is probably outside of the top 50 or something like that. I’m still top 10 of the race. That’s what matters.”
Zverev lost to Canadian world number 18 Milos Raonic in the fourth round of the Australian Open in January, during which he smashed a racquet during a changeover.
There were several roars of frustration during an underwhelming performance on Philippe Chatrier on Tuesday.
He opened up a two-set lead but was broken twice in the third and was dominated in a fourth-set tie-break. He also had a break point saved at 3-2 up in the fifth before completing victory.
