Jo-Wilfried Tsonga has continued his Rogers Cup campaign by coming from behind to beat Roberto Bautista Agut 5(5)-7 7-6(6) 7-5 in the second round.
Defending champion Tsonga looked good early on as the 10th seed broke his Spanish counterpart to move 3-1 ahead.
However, Bautista Agut fought back gamely to inflict a break of his own in the 10th game to move level at five games apiece, before pulling another out of the bag to draw first blood with a 7-5 win.
The second set started in identical fashion as Tsonga broke in the third game en route to a 3-1 lead as recent history looked like repeating itself.
Nevertheless, Bautista Agut - ranked 20th in the world, four places above the Frenchman - broke straight back to level up at two games apiece.
The first 10 points went with serve in the tie-break until Bautista Agut made the breakthrough to bring up match point, but Tsonga hit back in stunning fashion to survive and claim an 8-6 success.
Impressive serving displays from both players - Tsonga saved the only break point of the opening 11 games in the decider - made it seem almost inevitable that a tie-break would be needed.
However, Tsonga attacked the Bautista Agut serve to bring up two match points and he needed just one chance to keep alive his bid to defend the title.
Shane Callaghan
