The 26-year-old only returned in May after wrist surgery in January and has limited ATP experience with a ranking of 158. Sela helped Israel into an unprecedented Davis Cup semi-final this month in a victory over Russia.

Bogomolov said that perhaps he picked up a few tips on Sela's game, during their ping-pong games a day earlier to kill time during a total washout of play.

'I served well and wasn't broken once. The pressure was on him to hold,' said the American. 'But I still had to dig it out in the tiebreaker. It was tough to close out the match. I haven't had many chances to do that lately.'

Bogomolov will face the winner from American Robby Ginepri, the 2005 champion, and Argentine Eduardo Schwank.