He scored a commanding 6-2, 6-4 win over Ivan Cerovic of Croatia, who had beaten top seed Aisam Qureshi earlier in the day.
Following consistent performances on tour, the Pakistan ace has risen to a career-high of 129 in the ATP rankings.
While top seed Aisam Qureshi of Pakistan and Prakash Amritraj moved into the second round of the ITF Men's Futures Tennis in Bangalore.
Aisam Qureshi beat Rohan Bopanna 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the US$ 15,000 ITF Futures.
The top seeded Indian pair beat Pakistan's Aisam Qureshi and Aqeel Khan in the men's doubles quarter-finals at the Asian Games.
Pakistan took an unbeatable 2-0 lead over India in the second tennis Test in Lahore.
The Indian wild card beat the Pakistani third seed to enter the second round in the ITF Futures tournament.
India's Rohan Bopanna and his Pakistani partner Aisam Qureshi crashed out of the US Open after going down fighting in the men's doubles first round contest at the Flushing Meadows in New York.
'He will always be an enigma.' 'But it's because of players like him that some people still watch doubles matches.'
