Great Britain's Dan Evans progressed to the second round of the Monte Carlo Masters after battling past France's Benjamin Bonzi in straight sets in Tuesday's encounter.
The 31-year-old dominated proceedings from the off before Bonzi started to find his groove in the second set, but he nevertheless managed to progress courtesy of a 6-0 7-6 (7-4) victory.
An early double fault from Bonzi gave Evans the opportunity to break right off the bat which he took, and the Brit quickly stormed into a 3-0 lead while Bonzi struggled with his first serves.
Evans held well during his service games and earned his third break on the bounce after Bonzi missed a drop shot, ultimately serving the Frenchman a bagel with a forehand winner right into the corner of the court.
Bonzi came out firing in the second set and finally got on the board in his first service game before breaking the Evans serve - this time it was the Brit's turn to mishit a drop shot.
Evans managed to break back not long after before holding at 4-4, and the Brit confidently served to stay in the set and take it to a pivotal tie-break.
The world number 28 had previously won three tie-breaks in 2022, and such dominance came to the fore again, with a delightful winner down the line seeing him take the second of three match points available to him.
Evans will now face off against Belgium's David Goffin or the Czech Republic's Jiri Lehecka in round two in Monte Carlo.
Ben Knapton
