Marin Cilic’s famed serve came to the rescue as he narrowly avoided a shock defeat at the hands of Di Wu on Monday evening at the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Facing match point against the No. 227-ranked Chinese wild card at 4-5, 30/40 in the third set, Cilic produced an ace – one of 15 he struck in the contest – before rallying to record a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(4) victory in two hours and 14 minutes.

The 24-year-old Wu was chasing his first ATP-level victory and produced inspired tennis as he stretched 2014 US Open champion Cilic to a third-set tie-break. The Shanghai native dropped to a 0-12 mark in ATP and Grand Slam main draw play.

The 27-year-old Cilic is looking for a big result at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court tournament as he looks to mount a late charge for one of the four remaining spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The Croatian goes on to face countryman Borna Coric in the second round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also battled back from a set down to advance, defeating Tommy Robredo 6-7(5), 6-2, 6-2 in just under two hours. The 16^th-seeded Frenchman captured his 12^th ATP World Tour title last month on home soil in Metz (d. Simon). He next will face Victor Estrella Burgos, who defeated lucky loser Donald Young 6-2, 4-6, 6-4.

World No. 47 Steve Johnson notched his 29^th win of the season as he edged Andreas Seppi 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(2) in just over two hours. His fellow American Sam Querrey could not join him in the second round, though, beaten 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 by Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

London Hopefuls Upset In Opener

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Alexander Peya and Bruno Soares suffered a blow to their qualification bid as they were beaten in the Shanghai first round. Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt defeated the Austrian/Brazilian duo 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-3.

Kevin Anderson and Jeremy Chardy won their opener, defeating Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki 6-1, 1-6, 10-8.