The 2008 Heineken Open winner and No 8 seed Philipp Kohlschreiber battled for nearly two hours to beat Stephane Bohli 6-4 4-6 6-4 at the Heineken Open in Auckland today.
The 2008 champion recently arrived in the country from Doha and will hope to be in better shape to face the winner of the match between American wildcards Sam Querrey and Ryan Harrison.
Fifth seed Kevin Anderson of South Africa wasn't as successful, however, going down to qualifier Adrian Mannarino of France 6-3 6-3.
Meanwhile, American Ryan Harrison has beaten fellow wildcard and countryman Sam Querrey 6-4 6-3 in a first-round Heineken Open match in Auckland today.
Harrison, ranked 79th in the world, looked sharp in the match which lasted only 70 minutes. Querrey, a former top 20 player, now ranked 93rd due to an elbow injury last year, saved three match points in his final service game, but Harrison quickly sealed it to love on his serve.
