Marat Safin staved off retirement a little longer as he saved three match points en route to a first-round victory in the Paris Masters on Monday.

The former world number one, playing his final tournament before calling time on his playing days, held his nerve to progress to the second round with a 6-4 4-6 7-6 (7/3) over Frenchman Thierry Ascione.

He had found himself in deep trouble when serving at 4-5 in the final set.

At 15-40 he saved two match points with aces, but the Frenchman soon managed to force another.

However, again Safin came up with a big serve to save it with an ace.

And once the set went into a tie-break, Safin took control to claim victory and set up a mouthwatering clash with US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

That match will give Safin, the winner in Flushing Meadows in 2000, a chance for one last hurrah in his glittering career which has now brought him 422 wins on the ATP Tour.

Meanwhile, Ivo Karlovic cruised into the second round by seeing off the challenge of Uruguay's Pablo Cuevas.

The giant Croatian was typically dominant on serve with Cuevas failing to gain a single break point.

Karlovic took the first set on a tie-break before completing a 7-6 (7/3) 6-4 triumph to set up a meeting with Swedish ninth seed Robin Soderling.

There was disappointment for the home crowd in Bercy as Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu was forced to retire from his match against Viktor Troicki when 7-6 (7/4) 3-0 down.

And in the day's late game, veteran Sebastien Grosjean went down 7-6 (7/2) 6-4 to in-form Croatian Ivan Ljubicic.

Andreas Seppi proved too strong for Phillip Kohlschreiber, winning 6-3 6-3, while Tomas Berdych edged out qualifier Vincent Millot 6-3 7-6 (7/4).

Another qualifier, Lukasz Kubot, fared better, however, beating Andreas Beck 6-4 3-6 6-4.

American John Isner came from behind to see off qualifier Alejandro Falla 4-6 7-6 (12/10) 7-5, as did Spain's Albert Montanes in beating Victor Hanescu 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7/3).