Top seed Kim Clijsters battled past French teenager Tatiana Golovin 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 to reach the Diamond Games quarter-finals on Wednesday.
Despite a subdued performance from the U.S. Open champion, she rewarded the 12,000 spectators with a free bottle of champagne to mark her promotion to world number one.
"The crowd was probably the difference in the end I think," Clijsters told Reuters.
"The crowd certainly are a big help and support during the tiebreak and in close games and this was a very close game."
The 22-year-old Belgian was returning to action for the first time since injury forced her to retire during her Australian Open semi-final last month.
Clijsters over-hit her normally lethal forehand and lost the opening set when Golovin broke her serve in the 10th game.
"My footwork was lacking and I was not in right position and missing forehands," she said. "I was waiting too long and using too much arm. I didn't make her play hard enough."
She hit back, however, to break Golovin, who reached the Paris Open semi-finals last week, in the opening game of the second set.
Clijsters then broke again before the 18-year-old broke back in the sixth and 10th games to level.
Golovin won the next game to leave the Belgian serving to stay in the match, which she did successfully before battling to win the set in a tiebreak.
PENDULUM SWUNG
The pendulum swung as both players broke serve again in the third set before Clijsters saved six break points in the fifth game to lead 3-2 and she held her nerve to take the set.
Clijsters next meets Russian Dinara Safina, who saw off the challenge of Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik 6-2, 6-4.
Safina's compatriot Nadia Petrova also reached the quarter-finals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Serbian Ana Ivanovic.
Swiss sixth seed Patty Schnyder was handed a walkover against Czech Kveta Peschke, who picked up a foot injury during her 6-1, 6-2 win over Croatian Karolina Sprem.
Schnyder will next play Australian Open champion Amelie Mauresmo or Czech Iveta Benesova.
Greece's Eleni Daniilidou is also through to the quarters after a 6-4, 6-1 win over Czech Klara Koukalova and next faces Russia's Elena Dementieva or Pole Marta Domachowska.
Ukrainian Olga Savchuk booked a second round berth against ninth seed Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia after fighting back to beat France's Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 2-6, 7-5, 7-5.
