Somdev Devvarman struggled past Japanese qualifier Taro Daniel to progress to the singles quarter-finals of the ATP Challenger tournament, in Charlottesville, US.
The Indian Davis Cupper, who returned to competitive tennis at the London Olympics after an injury lay-off, won the second round match in the US $75,000 hard-court tournament 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
A wild card entrant, he next faces American eighth seed Denis Kudla.
Devvarman had lost six consecutive first round matches before coming into this tournament.
Having missed the first half of the season recuperating from a shoulder surgery, he has slid to 733 in the ATP singles rankings.