JOHANNESBURG (AP)—Third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain needed three sets to beat Monaco’s Benjamin Balleret in the first round of the ATP Tour’s $500,000 SA Tennis Open.

Lopez sealed a hard-fought 6-1, 6-7 (5), 6-3 victory to set up a second-round match with Slovakia’s Blaz Kavcic, who eliminated France’s Thierry Ascione on Monday.

“It was a really hot day and I found it difficult to keep up the intensity,” said Lopez, who is ranked 39th in the world. “After 45 minutes I was really feeling tired, and three double-faults and a few loose shots cost me the second-set tiebreaker. Still, I fought back in the third set when I served well and looking back it was a good win.”

There were mixed fortunes Tuesday for two other Frenchman in a humid Johannesburg. Josselin Ouanna beat Israel’s Harel Levy 7-6 (4), 6-2, and David Guez went down 6-4, 6-3 to South African wildcard Raven Klaasen.

Fourth seeded Marco Chiudinelli of Switzerland lost 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to Jamaica’s Dustin Brown while seventh seeded Yen-Hsun of Taipei advanced by beating Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen 6-3, 6-2.