Holger Rune needed three sets and almost three hours to defeat Argentine Francisco Comesana in the second round of the Masters 1000 tournament Italian Open.
At Foro Italico, Rune won 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 and is thus through to the third round, where the opponent will be French Corentin Moutet, who is number 83 in the world.
In Friday's match, Comesana, who is number 63 in the world, showed that he is extremely skilled on clay.
Rune, who is number ten in the world, had a bye in the first round and thus had no match training in Rome.
Rune struggled to get into his stride from the start as Comesana took the first three games after a single break of serve.
The condition of the court was not the best, and Rune complained several times about holes behind the back line, which employees tried to repair.
The Argentine also took a 4-1 lead before the two players began a marathon game of 20 minutes which Rune ended up winning and even though it was not enough to turn around the first set, it gave Rune some sort of hope going into the second set.
The Argentine was shaky in the second set as opposed to Rune, who suddenly made fewer mistakes and had a different and more energetic expression.
This led to a Danish break of serve and a 4-1 lead in the second set and Rune sealed the set in dominant fashion.
In the third set, the roles were reversed again as Rune was broken and trailed 0-2.
But the Dane fought on and broke back immediately clenching his fist to show that the fighting spirit was intact.
Comesana was close to breaking again, but Rune fended off four break balls and equalized at 2-2.
Rune then broke into a 4-3 lead, which proved decisive, even though Comesana fought until the end.
In the end, Rune capitalised on his second match point and advanced after great difficulty.