Brydan Klein holds nerve to beat world number 55 Facundo Bagnis

Brydan Klein has reached the second round of the Auckland Open with a thrilling three-set victory over world number 55 Facundo Bagnis.

After missing a number of months of last season through injury, Klein has dropped down to 324th in the world rankings, but the British number eight has earned some valuable points at the start of 2017 with a 6-1 6-7 7-6 triumph over Bagnis.

Klein breezed through the opening set in less than half an hour and although his Argentine opponent improved during the second set, Klein set up four match points in a tie-break.

However, Bagnis saved them all before taking it 8-6 and it appeared that he would miss out on one of the biggest victories of his career when Bagnis moved 5-2 up in the decider.

Klein was not finished, though, and after fighting back to take the contest to 6-6, he controlled a final-set tie-break to take it 7-3 and set up a last-16 clash with Joao Sousa.

The win for Klein has ensured that he will move inside the world's top 300 when the rankings are updated at the start of next week.