Fifth-seeded Florian Mayer struggled through to the second round of the Zagreb Indoors on Monday, overcoming Croatian wild card Franco Skugor 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (6).
The 38th-ranked German, fresh from reaching the semifinals in Sydney and quarterfinals in Brisbane, converted three out of 15 break points. Skugor had break point for a 5-2 lead in the third set and match point at 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Mayer won three points in a row to reach the second round.
''I started slowly and then lifted up my game,'' Mayer said. ''But Skugor played good, he really improved in the last 12 months.''
Elsewhere, the 84th-ranked Ivan Dodig of Croatia upset Marcel Granollers, seeded sixth, 6-3, 6-2.
In the other first-round matches, Michael Berrer of Germany beat Nikola Mektic of Croatia 7-5, 6-1 and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia defeated Marsel Ilhan of Turkey 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
In Tuesday's doubles, top-seeded Marin Cilic will team up with former Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, who will make a one-time return to ATP competition.
