Former World No. 1 Marat Safin will have to put his retirement plans on hold for a little while longer after saving three match points Monday to edge French qualifier Thierry Ascione 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(3) and reach the second round of the BNP Paribas Masters, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

The Russian, who is playing his final ATP World Tour tournament, trailed 15/40 at 4-5 in the third set and struck two aces out wide to recover to deuce. He was faced with a third match point after landing a forehand in the net, but responded with another ace – one of 24 he hit throughout the match – to deny Ascione, before going on to clinch victory in a tie-break after one hour and 52 minutes.

“Well, it's the best way probably to save the match points,” joked Safin afterwards. “It's not as painful and I don't have to run around on the court and just hope for the guy to miss. Just fast paces and it's over. Not painful. I was definitely lucky to serve wide twice on the match points. It's a sign that I have to stick around for another match.”

The 29 year old, a two-time Grand Slam champion, is bringing the curtain down on his glittering career at a venue where he has enjoyed great success in seven previous visits. The Muscovite has won the title three times, lifting the trophy in 2000 (d. Philippoussis), ’02 (d. Hewitt) and ’04 (d. Stepanek), and finished runner-up on his debut in 1999 (l. to Agassi). He improved to a 24-4 tournament record.

Watch Live Streaming

Watch Paris Preview

Watch Pre-Tournament Interviews: Nadal & del Potro

Afterwards, Safin was philosophical about his approach to the tournament: "[I am] not coming here to win, that's for sure. The shape that I am in right now, I don't think that I can aim there. I just want to finish on a good note and say goodbye to everybody. So it's completely different approach of coming to the tournament. It's strange feeling. It's not the way I thought it's going to be, but just personal. But it's okay. I still managed to play decent tennis, actually."

The No. 65-ranked Safin next will face US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro for the first time.

"The way he's playing right now, I don't think I have a chance," confessed Safin. "But I'm going to try. Why not? If I'm going to serve well and he's not going to be at his best, I have a chance. At the end of the day, I don't think I'm going to be the winner. I'm going to make a decent match, that's for sure."

Former Paris finalist Ivan Ljubicic advanced to the second round when he defeated veteran Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, continuing his impressive late-season form. The 30-year-old Croatian, who two weeks ago won the Lyon title – his first tournament crown since mid 2007 – won 82 per cent of points in a 7-6(2), 6-4 victory.

Ljubicic began the season at No. 58 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings and dipped as low as No. 76 for the week of 2 March, but has improved to No. 25 this week. He spent 84 career weeks inside Top 10, all consecutive, between 2005 and 2007, reaching a career-high mark of No. 3.