Top seed and defending champion Lleyton Hewitt had a major scare before keeping alive his hopes of an unprecedented fourth consecutive Stella Artois title.
Hewitt was stretched into a final set tie-break by Holland's world number 64 Raemon Sluiter in his second round match at Queen's Club.
Hewitt had failed to serve out for the match before recovering his poise in time to breeze through the decisive tie-break and earn a hard-fought 7-6 3-6 7-6 victory.
Hewitt would have relinquished his position as world number one to Andre Agassi had he failed to overcome the big-hitting Sluiter, who had beaten Hewitt on their only previous meeting in Stockholm last year.
The Dutchman recovered from an early break to push the Australian into a tie-break but wasted his single set point chance when he flopped a backhand into the net.
Hewitt's accuracy was way off in the second set and Sluiter was never in danger on his own serve. A double-fault from Hewitt presented his opponent with a double-break and the second set.
The pair once again exchanged breaks in the final set with Hewitt looking far from convincing.
His temper occasionally frayed and he punctuated his mistakes with cries of frustration before recovering his cool in time to book a third round meeting with big-serving Belgian Dick Norman.