Guillermo Coria battled back from the brink against fragile Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, with the Argentine sixth seed squeezing out a narrow 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4 victory into the third round of the Monte Carlo Open here on Wednesday.
In a duel lasting just under three hours, 2004 winner Coria, twice a losing finalist, recovered while trailing 6-1, 4-0 against Mathieu, who could not follow up on his heroics after defeating Marat Safin on Tuesday.
Coria finally advanced on his seventh match point as he overcame 20 double-faults and produced only 26 winners against 62 unforced errors.
Mathieu let his chances slip repeatedly, missing on four match point opportunities, including two in a second-set tiebreaker.
The 39th-ranked Mathieu was coming off only his first victory at Monte Carlo after three attempts.
RESULTS:
SECOND ROUND: Roger Federer (SUI x1) bt Alberto Martin (ESP) 6-0, 6-1; Ivan Ljubicic (CRO x4) bt Florent Serra (FRA) 4-6, 6-3, 7-5; David Nalbandian (ARG x3) bt Andreas Seppi (ITA) 7-5, 7-5; Juan Carlos Ferrero (ESP x11) bt Juan Chela (ARG) 6-1, 6-2; Tommy Robredo (ESP x15) bt Olivier Rochus 7-5, 6-4; Guillermo Coria (ARG x6) bt Paul-Henri Mathieu (FRA) 1-6, 7-6 (8/6), 6-4; Nicolas Kiefer (GER x9) bt Michael Llodra (FRA) 7-6 (7/4), 6-4; Alessio Di Mauro (ITA) bt Radek Stepanek (CZE x10) 6-2, 2-6, 7-6 (7/4); Benjamin Balleret (MON) bt Sebastien Grosjean (FRA x13) 4-6, 7-5, 3-2 - retired, back injury.