British number one Cameron Norrie came through a nervy three-set battle with wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta to progress to the quarter-finals of the Argentina Open.
The world number 12 took just under three hours to record a 4-6 7-5 7-6[6] win on the clay, having fought back valiantly in the pivotal third-set tiebreaker to settle a tantalising contest.
Neither man covered themselves in glory regarding their first serves in the opening set, with Norrie double faulting on the first point of his opening service game before managing to hold.
Norrie and Acosta would double fault four times between them in the opening four games, but the Argentinian soon gained the upper hand on the clay, firing consecutive aces to hold to love at 4-3.
Acosta brought up a 40-15 lead on Norrie's serve in the next game, but the British number one saved both of those break points before ultimately coming unstuck in the 10th game.
Acosta was gifted another two break points, and despite seeing Norrie save one of them, the wildcard made no mistake with his second opportunity to take the first set with aplomb.
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An open start to the second set saw both players miss two break points in the first two games, but the mountain became steeper for Norrie as he was broken again in the fourth.
Missed opportunities would seemingly plague the Brit once more, as he missed two chances to break back straight away, but he made it third time lucky before holding to get back on serve at 3-3 in the second.
The second-set drama was not done by a long shot, though, as Acosta broke Norrie's serve once more to go 5-3 up, thus presenting himself with the chance to serve for a place in the last eight.
However, Norrie dug incredibly deep to win four games on the trot and force a deciding third set, having taken advantage of Acosta's decreasing first-serve win percentage.
The British number one posted the crucial first break of the third set to go 2-1 up, but his advantage would not last long, as Acosta broke back for 3-3 before six successive holds led to a final tie-breaker.
Despite earning the mini-break and going 4-1 up, Acosta could not see out a memorable win over the Wimbledon semi-finalist, who recovered to book his place in the quarter-finals against Tomas Martin Etcheverry.
Ben Knapton
