Tommy Robredo moved to within three match wins of his 500th career victory at the Valencia Open, as he defeated John Isner for the first time in their fourth meeting.
Robredo won 43 of his 47 first service points and saved all five break points he faced to beat the fifth seed 7-6(3), 6-3 in 81 minutes. Earlier this month, Isner saved one match point against Robredo in Beijing.
Robredo will now face Yen-Hsun Lu in the second round.
Meanwhile, fourth seed Feliciano Lopez overcame qualifier Norbert Gombos 6-4, 6-4 in his first win at the ATP World Tour 500 tournament over the past five years.
Another match saw Alexandr Dolgopolov defeated eighth seed Gilles Simon, the recent Shanghai Rolex Masters finalist, 6-0, 6-3.
And former champion Fernando Verdasco, who lifted the 2004 title when the event was played on clay, battled past Leonardo Mayer 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 in just under two hours.
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