Top-seeded Mardy Fish survived a three-set match on Tuesday night at the 2012 Citi Open in Washington, DC. Fish has had a tumultuous season, sitting out nearly three months after experiencing an irregular heartbeat. He returned at Wimbledon and looked impressive, despite the rust, exiting in the fourth round with a loss to Jo-Wilifried Tsonga. But Fish then encountered ankle trouble last week in Atlanta.
With the field limited due to the Olympics, Fish has a golden opportunity to gather some momentum in DC as the summer progresses towards the season's final major. But he had an opening set scare on Tuesday, forcing him to rebound and defeat Bjorn Phau 4-6, 6-1, 6-2. After dropping that first set, Fish went on to win 10 of 11 games to advance convincingly. On the men's side, German Tommy Haas and Alexandr Dolgopolov joined Fish by advancing to the second round.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, the top ranked woman, also advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of Bojana Jovanovski. American fourth-seeded Vania King defeated fellow American Jennifer Ellie, 6-3, 6-4.
For more on the tournament, stay tuned to SB Nation DC and the main tennis hub at SB Nation.