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Argentina, Feb 8 (IANS) Dusan Lajovic snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at the Argentina Open to reach the second round in Buenos Aires. The fifth seed overcame Frenchman Benoit Paire 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(3), saving three match points en route to his two-hour and four-minute victory at the ATP 250 tournament, on Monday.
The Serbian, who is a two-time quarter-finalist in Buenos Aires, saved three match points at 5-4, 40/0 on Paire's serve as he demonstrated his fighting qualities in a hard-fought encounter. Lajovic rallied from a breakdown three times in the decider, before finding his top level in the tie-break to triumph.
The 31-year-old now leads Paire 3-2 in their ATP head-to-head series, with this his second victory over the World No. 50 on clay (Sao Paulo 2016). Lajovic will play Federico Coria in the second round after the Argentine ousted Uruguayan Pablo Cuevas 6-1, 1-6, 6-3 in one hour and 55 minutes.
Paire, who was making his third appearance in Buenos Aires, was looking to build on his Australian Open third-round run this week in Argentina.
In other action, Miomir Kecmanovic made it a successful day for Serbia, joining countryman Lajovic in the second round.
World No. 63 moved past Laslo Djere 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in one hour and 44 minutes to improve to 4-1 in their ATP Head2Head series. Kecmanovic will next face Argentine qualifier Francisco Cerundolo, who defeated countryman Facundo Bagnis 7-5, 6-2 in one hour and 49 minutes.
Spaniard Fernando Verdasco also advanced as he sealed his first tour-level win since May, defeating Bolivian qualifier Hugo Dellien 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 after two hours and three minutes.
The former World No. 7 was making his fourth appearance in Buenos Aires, after first competing at the clay-court event in 2004. He broke four times en route to his first victory over Dellien.
--IANS
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