Janko Tipsarevic defeated Italy's Andreas Seppi to set up a clash with Andy Murray in the second round of the Dubai Championships.
The Serbian, who is currently ranked 39th in the world, won his first round tie 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 to set up a meeting with Britain's number one later on Wednesday.
Seeded trio Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Marin Cilic and Nikolay Davydenko also progressed into the second round of the tournament.
Murray, who is the second-highest ranked player in Dubai behind Novak Djokovic, will hope to extend his current 3-2 record against Tipsarevic and progress to the third round.
Meanwhile fourth seed Davydenko struggled with a sore left wrist as he came from a set down to defeat France's Florent Serra 6-7 (5-7) 6-4 6-1.
The Russian revealed the injury he suffered at the recent Rotterdam semi-finals was still hampering him.
"I thought I broke it," he said. "I had swelling for three days. I could not touch anything with my left wrist. I did not know if I would play here, which is the reason I requested a Tuesday start.
"
It still hurts, but I hope it's not a big problem and I can play here and the Davis Cup."
Tsonga progressed from his all-French encounter with Michael Llodra when his opponent retired after dropping the first set 7-6 (11-9), while sixth seed Cilic defeated Arnaud Clement of France 6-2 6-4.