Marat Safin avoided the ignominy of heading into retirement with a first-round defeat in the Paris Masters after seeing off Thierry Ascione in a third-set tie-break.

Marat Safin avoided the ignominy of heading into retirement with a first-round defeat in the Paris Masters after seeing off Thierry Ascione in a third-set tie-break.

Former world number one Safin, 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 the Frenchman.

Ivo Karlovic cruised into the second round after 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.

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 7-5, as did Spain's Albert Montanes in beating Victor Hanescu 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-3).

Ivan Ljubicic is also through to the second stage after seeing off another Frenchman, Sebastien Grosjean, 7-6 (7/2) 6-4.