IT was tough going - but Bolton's Simon Roberts won through to take his place in the second round of the ITF Men's Futures competition at the Bolton Arena.

The 22-year-old, from Bromley Cross, wasted four match points before finally defeating Germany's Sacha Kloer in three sets.

Roberts made a confident start, racing into a 4-1 lead before struggling with his serve and losing the first set on a tie break.

The second set went with serve before Roberts made the break in game seven, going on to win the set 6-3.

It all looked over as the young Brit served for the game at 5-1, but he lost his serve to give the athletic German qualifier some impetus.

Roberts lost the next four games, and was visibly frustrated with his game, but turned things round at 5-5 to take the next two games with some delightful ground strokes.

The draw now looks favourable for Roberts, who will now face giant German Phillipp Hammer in the second round.

Hammer defeated Roberts in Sunderland two weeks ago, and went through after number one seed Mark Hilton withdrew after only one set of their game yesterday with the German ahead 6-4, 2-1.