Having won the first set on Wednesday and lost the second on Thursday, Purcell prevailed 6-4 3-6 6-3 over Germany's Daniel Altmaier in the only match to be completed on Friday.
With persistent rain continuing to fall at the clay court tournament, organisers announced they would try to protect the playing surface for a busy weekend of action.
Purcell against Altmaier was the final first-round match to conclude, with a second round, quarter-finals, semi-finals and final to schedule in the limited time before the ATP Tour rolls on.
The 25-year-old Sydneysider will play Argentina's Tomas Etcheverry in the next round.
Fellow Australian Jason Kubler, the tournament's sixth seed, is scheduled to take on Colombia's Daniel Galan in the round of 16 on Saturday (Sunday AEST).
Top seed Frances Tiafoe is yet to play a match after receiving a first-round bye, and it is the same case for second seed Tommy Paul.
"We want to ensure that our courts are in the best possible condition to complete our tournament this weekend," tournament director Bronwyn Greer said in a statement.
Meanwhile, at the ATP 250 tournament in Marrakech, Chris O'Connell's career-best run at a tour-level clay-court event has come to an end in a hard-fought 3-6 7-6 (8-6) 6-7 (3-7) defeat to Russia's Pavel Kotov.
- with DPA
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