Safin will play the 80th-ranked Tipsarevic in the next round.
Last year in the quarter-finals of the Kremlin Cup, Safin was stretched to three sets before beating his Serbian opponent.
"He was up a break in the third," said Safin, who eventually won 7-6 (5), 3-6, 6-4. "Been close to beating [Andy] Roddick in Wimbledon last year and [David] Nalbandian this year in the first round [of the Australian] Open."
RSS