Novak Djokovic is up and running in the Paris Masters with a manageable win over Maxime Cressy of the United States.
In the first meeting between the pair, Djokovic found breaking the big-serving American difficult and reverted to controlling his errors which paved the way for a 7-6 (1), 6-4 win.
Cressy saved two break points in the first set before hitting two double faults in the tiebreaker to hand the advantage to the Serb before repeating the same mistake at 4-4 in the second set to hand Djokovic a needed break which he gleefully accepted before sealing the match on the first opportunity.
The opening Paris Masters win takes the Djokovic win streak to 10 after helping him lift trophies in Israel and Kazakhstan.
He will next play Karen Khachanov, who outlasted Marc-Andrea Huesler 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Casper Ruud moved into the third round of the competition by defeating wild-card entry Richard Gasquet 6-1, 7-6 (7).
Holger Rune saved three match points against Stan Wawrinka during a gruelling 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3) win while Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz stayed in contention for the two remaining spots at the ATP Finals with wins as well.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Ruud, Daniil Medvedev and Djokovic have already qualified for the eight-man tournament.
Rublev eased past John Isner 6-2, 6-3 in the second round while Hurkacz edged wild-card entry, Adrian Mannarino, 7-6 (5), 6-4 in the first round.
In other first-round matches, No. 14 seed Pablo Carreno Busta ousted Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-3, 6-3, and French qualifier Corentin Moutet stunned Borna Coric 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
Tommy Paul, Denis Shapovalov and Grigor Dimitrov also advanced to the second round.
Paul who beat Roberto Bautista Agut 6-4, 6-4 will now take on returning Rafael Nadal.
