Tomas Berdych cut a relieved figure after opening his account at the ATP World Tour Finals with victory over Andy Roddick on Wednesday.
Czech Berdych, making his first appearance in the season-finale contested by the eight top-ranked players in the world, succumbed to a 6-3 6-3 defeat in his opener with world number three Novak Djokovic on Monday.
But the 25-year-old sixth seed bounced back at the first attempt, downing 2003 US Open champion Roddick 7-5 6-3 at London's O2 Arena to remain in with a chance of progressing to the semi-finals.
"Today I started to play much better," Berdych said.
"It feels great. I'm playing first time this kind of system, the groups."
"There's still a chance. Now it's down to myself and my next opponent."
"None of these matches are easy, especially today against Andy because I played him this year three times and he won all three."
"I'm happy after losing to Djokovic to get back on the court and start to play my tennis again and feel good on court. That's what I needed."
"This season has been the best I ever played and I did a good job again today. I won a tough match and now I'm looking forward to the next one."
Next up for Berdych is a daunting match-up with world number one Rafael Nadal.
Despite being the lowest-ranked player in the tournament, Roddick had cause for optimism going into the match against Berdych give his hat-trick of victories in 2010.
But the 28-year-old missed two set points in the first and surrendered crucial breaks on the way to a disappointing capitulation.
"I've beaten him three times this year, and six times overall, so I feel like I have a pretty good idea what to do," Roddick said.
"(But) if you don't execute it, it makes most game plans look stupid."
"I don't think he came into the match with a lot of confidence."
"(But) being able to get through game 10 in the first set definitely raised his confidence level. He played well in the second set."