Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years for a glorious victory over Casper Ruud at the Swiss Indoors, joining fellow veteran Andy Murray in putting on a show in Basel.
Former world number one Murray pulled off a remarkable win over Russian Roman Safiullin, winning five games in a row from 4-1 behind in the final set.
But that was just a tease for the excitement that followed, as Wawrinka, who like Murray won three grand slam titles in his prime, felled second seed Ruud in straight sets.
The 37-year-old Swiss delighted his home crowd with a 6-4 6-4 victory over this season's French Open and US Open runner-up, serving nine aces as he defied a world ranking of 194th to produce some of his old magic.
Murray has fallen away from the elite ,too, but at 49th in the world he is not far away from rejoining that pack, although defeat looked to be beckoning against Safiullin.
The 35-year-old Scot fist-pumped with relief at recovering the break of serve that Safiullin snatched early in the decider, and Murray hit a service winner on his second match point to seal a 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-4 success.
The victory for two-time Wimbledon winner Murray took him to 26 wins this season, the most he has had in a single campaign since pulling off an astounding 78 victories in 2016, the year he won at the All England Club for a second time, landed a second Olympic gold medal and finished top of the rankings.
Murray said of his win: "As the match went on, I started to dictate a few more points and served better."
Quoted on the ATP website, he added: "I changed the way I was returning a little bit, and when I did that, I was able to create a few more opportunities and frustrate him a little bit."
Pablo Carreno Busta scored a 6-2 6-1 win against Argentinian Sebastian Baez, with Alex Molcan, Dominic Stricker and Botic van de Zandschulp also advancing to the last-16 stage.
At the Vienna Open, Murray's fellow British players Cameron Norrie and Dan Evans both went through to the second round, Norrie beating Argentina's Pedro Cachin 3-6 6-2 7-6 (7-1) and Evans fending off Germany's Oscar Otte 6-4 7-6 (7-3).
Canadian left-hander Denis Shapovalov beat Austrian wildcard Jurij Rodionov, but the home crowd had something to celebrate when former US Open champion Dominic Thiem continued his resurgence by eking out a 2-6 7-6 (7-2) 7-6 (8-6) victory against American Tommy Paul, saving two match points.
Madrid champion Swiatek keen to maintain level at Italian Open
Iga Swiatek will not rest on her laurels after overcoming Aryna Sabalenka in last week's Madrid Open final, pledging to learn from that gruelling battle ahead of the Italian Open.
Swiatek toppled Sabalenka in an enthralling battle between the world's top two players on Saturday, saving three championship points en route to a 7-5 4-6 7-6 (9-7) win in over three hours on court.
The world number one has now won every European clay court tournament at WTA 500 level or higher, including back-to-back triumphs in Rome in 2021 and 2022.
As she prepares to open her Italian Open campaign against either Caroline Dolehide or a qualifier on Friday, Swiatek is determined to ensure she does not let her level drop.
Speaking during an appearance on the WTA Insider Podcast, Swiatek said: "I feel like after such a match, I deserve a two-month vacation, but I can't have that so I'll trade it for six tiramisus or something!
"I can let it go and rest and just forget about it, or I can really take a big lesson from it, so it depends on what is going to happen in the next few weeks in terms of how I analyse it."
Swiatek's latest win – her seventh in 10 meetings with Sabalenka – saw her put further distance between herself and the world number two in the WTA rankings.
However, the four-time grand slam champion knows she cannot afford to let up, given the fierce competition on the WTA tour.
"I'm not thinking about Aryna when I'm practising, but it's more that I know that the competition is big and if I stop for a while I might be pushed out," Swiatek said.
"But I had this kind of thing in Rome 2022, with the final against Ons [Jabeur]. Physically, I was so tired. The rallies were long, Ons was playing a pretty tricky game.
"So after that game for the next few years, when I was doing the worst practices on court and I was dying, I was thinking about that game."
Sinner will only play Roland Garros if '100 per cent' fit
Jannik Sinner says that he is aiming to make a return for Roland-Garros if he is "100 per cent" fit following a hip issue.
The world number two withdrew from the Madrid Open last week ahead of his quarter-final tie with Felix Auger-Aliassime due to the injury.
Sinner confirmed on Saturday that he will not be playing in what would be a home tournament in Rome.
Providing an update on his progress on Sunday, Sinner said: "I went back to Monte-Carlo, we did some more tests, which made me take this hard decision because I have to skip the most special tournament of the year for me.
"I have to accept it even if it hurts me and many fans. We realised something is not totally good. If it is not 100 per cent healed, I'll stay out a little longer. Caring for the body is much more important than everything else.
"I’ll just try to get back to 100 per cent as soon as possible, hopefully trying to play in Paris and then Wimbledon and all the rest.
"We'll take our time, there's no rush and, hopefully, I can get back very, very soon."
Nadal and Djokovic on opposite sides of Italian Open draw
Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic could meet in the Italian Open final after being positioned on opposite sides of the draw.
Nadal, a record 10-time champion at the tournament, could meet reigning champion Daniil Medvedev in the quarter-finals should they both get that far, while newly crowned Madrid Open winner, Andrey Rublev, would be a potential semi-final opponent.
In the top half of the draw, Djokovic will take on either Roman Safiullin or a qualifier in his first competitive appearance since Monte Carlo.
The Serbian, who is just two wins away from his 1100th tour-level career victory, is seeded to face Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals. Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov are also on their side of the draw.
Meanwhile, top seed Iga Swiatek has been drawn in the opposite half of the draw to Elena Rybakina, the reigning Italian Open champion.
Swiatek is projected to face Coco Gauff in the semi-finals for the second consecutive WTA 1000 event should they both progress.
Rybakina is due to meet second seed Aryna Sabalenka at the same stage, having lost to the Belarusian at last week’s Madrid Open semi-finals.
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