Roger Federer crashed out of the Paris Masters as Jean Benneteau produced a sublime performance to beat him 3-6 7-6 (7/4) 6-4.

The local man started slowly as Federer looked to wrap up a quick win.

Benneteau had three set points in the second set tiebreak, converting at the second attempt as the match began to turn in his favour.

And the world number 49 held his nerve to maintain his momentum in the third set and close out the match, breaking down with joy as he ousted the legendary Swiss.

Earlier, Marat Safin bode farewell to professional tennis with a 6-4 5-7 6-4 defeat by US Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro.

The fiery Russian announced earlier this year he would be bringing to an end a 12-year career that has brought him two grand slam titles and the world number one ranking.

Today's match saw flashes of Safin at his brilliant best, and he fought impressively to take the second set, but there were also too many mistakes as fifth seed Del Potro booked his place in round three.

The crowd were behind the wild card, who is a three-time champion in Paris, throughout the match and, after a hug from Del Potro across the net, a host of Safin's current and former rivals came out on court to pay tribute to the Muscovite.

Safin was presented with a souvenir trophy and then addressed the crowd, saying: "It's a very special moment.

"I'm happy to get through to the second round and play Del Potro, I hope he's going to do well here. He's confident now because of me so if he's going to win it he can send me some prize money!

"This is the day where all my memories will be in one box. I'm closing one door, hopefully another door will be opened."

In other matches, Rafael Nadal was forced to dig deep into his renowned powers of resilience to overcome Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro 3-6 7-6 (7/2) 7-5.

The world number two, who had won all four of his previous encounters with Almagro without dropping a set, has endured a torrid time with injuries in the last few months and was troubled by blisters to his feet in the duel, which lasted three hours 14 minutes.

Second seed Nadal saved four match points and was a break down in the third set, but overcame Almagro, who himself required treatment in the closing stages, to progress.

Third seed Novak Djokovic saved two set points against Juan Monaco on his way to a 6-3 7-5 victory.

The Serb, who beat Federer in the final of the world number one's home-town event in Basle on Sunday, looked a little jaded and appeared in trouble at 2-5 in the second set.

But Monaco squandered two set points on his opponent's serve and five games in a row gave Djokovic victory.

Robin Soderling kept alive his chances of qualifying for the event at the O2 later this month with a 6-4 7-6 (8/6) victory over giant Croatian Ivo Karlovic.

Elsewhere, home favourite Gael Monfils eased into the third round with a 6-4 7-5 win over qualifier David Guez.

Arnaud Clement saved one match point in his 5-7 6-3 7-6 (10/8) victory over Tommy Haas, Fernando Gonzalez beat John Isner 7-5 7-6 (7/3) and Tommy Robredo defeated Tomas Berdych 6-4 6-4.

Twelfth seed Marin Cilic beat Polish qualifier Lukasz Kubot 6-7 (3/7) 6-4 6-2,

Andy Murray battled his way past stubborn resistance from James Blake to take his place in the third round in a match that did not finish until almost 2am local time.

It did not begin until 11.30, and once it did Murray was tested all the way before eventually triumphing 6-3 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (6-4).

Murray broke the American in the fourth game to put himself in the driving seat in the opening set only for Blake to claw his way back to return the favour immediately to go to 3-2.

The pattern continued as Murray took the sixth game on Blake's serve with a second break to go to 3-3 and it quickly became 4-3 as he held serve.

Murray made it four games on the trot by breaking serve again in game eight and then served out to take the opening set 6-3.

Both players then held serve through the second set, forcing a tiebreaker as the marathon day's play continued.

Blake pushed 6-4 ahead and it was then that Murray slipped and seemed to hurt his leg scrambling for the ball.

He got up to face set point but could not stop Blake levelling the match at 1-1.

Murray still looked to be struggling as the third set begun, but he battled through another lengthy fight as both players held serve to force another tiebreaker.

Murray finally made his move, pushing 5-3 ahead, but he could not hold serve to give Blake another chance.

However, Murray got back to 6-4 ahead for his second match point and clinched victory when Blake hit a shot long, ending the contest after two and a quarter gruelling hours.

Radek Stepanek had a much easier time dispatching Viktor Troicki 6-4 6-0.