Tim Henman was delighted to have seen off the tough challenge of Jonas Bjorkman and gained revenge for his defeat at the Australian Open last month.
The British number one got Great Britain's Davis Cup match against Sweden off to the best possible start, surviving a third-set revival by the Swedish number two to prevail 6-4 7-5 4-6 7-5.
And afterwards he told BBC2: "Jonas has always been a great competitor and I knew I had to up my game - and I did that.
"I think I served a lot better but still when he returns as well as he does he's always going to make life difficult."
Henman, who had seen his search for a first major abruptly ended by the Swede in Melbourne, paid tribute to the vocal sell-out crowd at the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham.
He added: "You've got to keep hanging in there and keep fighting but when you've got support like this it makes it a lot easier.
British number two Greg Rusedski now faces Thomas Enqvist with the chance of putting the home nation into a 2-0 lead.
And Henman added: "Greg's been playing brilliantly and if he continues like that I think we could be up two-love by tonight."
PA