Fernando Verdasco battled to win his first-round match at the Los Cabos Open, while defending champion Ivo Karlovic bowed out.

Verdasco saved two match points before edging past Ernesto Escobedo 6-7 (6-8) 7-5 6-2 at the ATP 250 event on Tuesday.

The Spanish sixth seed trailed by a set and a break, saving two match points on his own serve at 3-5 down in the second set.

Verdasco then broke back in the next game, and Escobedo was unable to recover from his missed chance.

Karlovic, champion of the inaugural edition of the event in Mexico last year, was edged out by qualifier Quentin Halys 7-6 (7-5) 7-6 (10-8).

Bjorn Fratangelo claimed a 6-4 6-4 win over Tatsuma Ito and Peter Polansky overcame Yasutaka Uchiyama 7-5 7-6 (7-5).

Vincent Millot got past lucky loser Brydan Klein 6-2 3-6 6-1 and Taylor Fritz came from behind to oust Mikhail Kukushkin 6-7 (5-7) 6-2 6-2.