Rod Laver Arena/Melbourne Park, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia, 4 February 2016 | AAP

Tournament top seed Bernard Tomic was given a scare before advancing to the quarter-finals of the Ecuador Open on Wednesday.

The world No.20 took the first set 6-3 against Roberto Carballes only to go down 6-2 in the next to the Spaniard, before recovering to win the deciding set 6-4.

Tomic, who was eliminated in the fourth round of the Australian Open by Britain’s Andy Murray, will now meet tournament No.6 seed Paolo Lorenzi from Italy for a spot in the semi-finals.

Earlier third-seeded Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil defeated Spain’s Albert Montanes 6-2 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals.