Safin extends career by winning at Paris Masters

Paris: Marat Safin extended his career by at least one more round, savingthree match points to beat French qualifier Thierry Ascione 6-4, 4-6,7-6 (3) at the Paris Masters.

The 29-year-old Russian, a three-time winner in Paris, is planning toretire after this tournament. He will face US Open champion Juan MartinDel Potro of Argentina in the second round.

"The way he is playing right now, I don't think I have a chance," Safinsaid yesterday. "I'm going to fight 100 percent. But to win it? I'm notsure."

Safin saved the match points by serving three aces when trailing 5-4 inthe third set. He closed the match with a forehand volley on his firstmatch point in the tiebreaker to improve to 24-4 at the Paris Masters,where he won in 2000, '02 and '04.

"It's probably the best way to save the match points," said Safin, whohad 24 aces. "It's not as painful, and I don't have to run around onthe court and just hope for the guy to miss."

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He broke in the fifth game when Ascione double-faulted and took thefirst set with a backhand drop volley. After trading breaks in thesecond set, Safin saved three break points in the sixth game beforehitting a forehand long to ultimately force a decider.

Safin, a former No. 1, captured the 2000 US Open and 2005 AustralianOpen among 15 singles titles. In his best result this year, he reachedthe semifinals at St Petersburg 10 days ago.

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"The way I'm moving right now is not really the best in my career,"Safin said. "It's tough to pick up the bags, to go to the airport, tostay in the traffic, flight, passport control, wait for the bags again.It's very heavy. So I'm happy this is over."

Tomas Berdych, the 2005 champ, beat French qualifier Vincent Millot 6-3, 7-6 (4) after serving 10 aces and breaking three times.

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The 247th-ranked Millot wasted a 5-2 lead in the second set and hisCzech opponent finished the match with an ace on his first match point.Berdych, ranked 20th, will next face 14th-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain.

Viktor Troicki of Serbia benefited from Paul-Henri Mathieu's calfinjury to advance and will face 13th-seeded Radek Stepanek. Mathieu,who reached the Hamburg final this year, failed to convert a set pointand retired when trailing 7-6 (4), 3-0.

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"It's a shame because it was very close and I had some goodopportunities to break him," Mathieu said. "But I suddenly felt a painin my calf after a run and it was difficult for me to keep going."Andreas Seppi of Italy beat Philipp Kohlschreiber of

Germany 6-3, 6-3, and Ivo Karlovic of Croatia served 21 aces in a 7-6 (3), 6-4 victory over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay.

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John Isner of the United States saved three match points before beatingColombian qualifier Alejandro Falla to 4-6, 7-6 (10), 7-5.

Former winner Sebastien Grosjean of France, ranked 705th afterundergoing shoulder surgery last year, lost 7-6 (2), 6-4 to IvanLjubicic of Croatia.

Lukasz Kubot of Poland defeated Andreas Beck of Germany 6-4, 3-6, 6-4,and Albert Montanes of Spain struggled to beat Victor Hanescu ofRomania 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (3).

A two-time title winner this year, Montanes will next play defendingchampion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The Frenchman retired in the first roundof the Valencia Open last week with a wrist injury but is confident hecan play before his home crowd.

"I played (in training) earlier today and everything went fine," Tsongatold a news conference. "I'm happy to come back here. I have a lot ofgood memories."

Tsonga is one of the seven players who can still qualify for thismonth's eight-man ATP World Tour Finals in London. No. 7 NikolayDavydenko and No. 8 Fernando Verdasco, a semifinalist last week inValencia, are in the best position ahead of Robin Soderling, FernandoGonzalez, Tsonga, Radek Stepanek and Marin Cilic.

To qualify for the season-ending event, Tsonga must win this tournamentagain without facing Verdasco in the final. "I will give it everything,and will go on the court to win," he said. "I have nothing to lose."