Rajiv Ouseph was taken the distance by Commonwealth silver-medallist Derek Wong Zi Liang on Wednesday but eventually won his first-round match at the Indonesian Open.
The west Londoner, currently ranked 15, took control of the opening game from an early stage and closed it out at the first attempt, 21-14.
He looked on course for a comfortable victory when leading 10-4 in the second game but then found himself 12-14 behind.
Malaysian Wong, who reached the final of the Glasgow Commonwealth Games in 2014 but had never beaten Ouseph in their previous three meetings, was pegged back to 20-20 but took the match to a decider with his second game point.
Ouseph was 6-1, 11-4 and then 16-7 in front in the final game but again saw his lead eroded, this time to 19-17, before the Englishman came through 21-19.
He will play world number 17 Wei Nan, of Hong Kong, in Thursday’s second round.
This post was last modified on 02/06/2016