American top seed Andy Roddick barely scraped past Dmitri Tursunov, escaping with a 7-6 (8/6), 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/5) victory at the 600,000 dollar ATP RCA Championships.
Roddick reached the third round at the expense of the 119th-ranked Tursunov, a California-based Russian who knocked Tim Henman out in the second round of Wimbledon.
Roddick showed more than a little rust in his first time back on the court since losing to Roger Federer at Wimbledon two weeks ago. He received a bye through the first round here.
Roddick, whose lone major title came at the 2003 US Open, is chasing his fourth trophy this season and has never lost a match at Indy since his first appearance in 2003.
But his third three-set opening challenge in as many years here gave him quite a scare.
"Tonight he played really well," said a relieved Roddick. "He came out either hitting winners or missing. He controlled the tempo, that was his game plan.
"I was lucky to get out. I didn't get a lot of looks at second serves. This match felt the way it looked.
"The crowd stuck with me and never gave up. In the third set, I think they were cheering for both players."
The 22-year-old world number four improved to 38-8 for the season as he dropped Tursunov to 5-5.
Roddick is looking to become the first three-time winner on the Indianapolis cement since Pete Sampras in 1991, 1992 and 1996.
The American missed a chance to close it out in straight sets when Tursunov uncorked a down-the-line winner during a set in which he struck a dozen aces - two-thirds of his total for the match.
Roddick ended it on his fourth match point with a 17th ace in a contest in which he struck one less than his losing opponent.
Greg Rusedski, the only other seed in action on Tuesday and also playing in the second round after a bye, needed three tiebreaks to overcome South African Wesley Moodie 6-7 (4/7), 7-6 (9/7), 7-6 (7/2).
Rusedski's 21 aces totalled only three more than Moodie in the battle of big serves which lasted two hours and 24 minutes.
The Canadian-born Brit was joined as a winner by teenaged compatriot Andy Murray, who came off a challenger title at the weekend in California to defeat Jesse Witten, a 23-year-old playing in his first ATP match, 6-4, 6-2.
Swede Jonas Bjorkman and Swiss George Bastl struck winning blows for the over-30 crowd with easy victories to move into the second round.