No 1 seed Ferrer suffered a mid-match slump as he came under pressure from Lu Yen-Hsun of Taiwan in the warm-up event for next week’s Australian Open, eventually grinding out a 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory.

Chasing a record-equalling fourth Auckland title, the Spanish World No 5 made a perfect start by breaking Lu in the second game, aided by three double faults from his opponent.