Safin won the Paris Masters title in 2000, 2002 and 2004

The Russian, who is working his way up the rankings after injury problems, held his nerve after a slow start.

"He has some weaknesses in his game," said Safin. "He was getting a little bit tight on playing the short slice balls on his backhand."

Nikolay Davydenko made the last 16 with a 6-0 6-0 win over Christophe Rochus.

The fourth seed is the highest-ranked player in the tournament after a spate of high-profile withdrawals including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

It has been a terrible year for me. I just want to stop Marat Safin

And on a good day for Russia, Igor Andreev beat Gael Monfils 7-5 6-4 and Dmitry Tursunov reached the third round after Nicolas Almagro retired when trailing 6-3 5-4.

It was Andreev's first match on the tour since April when he underwent surgery to repair knee ligament damage.

Compatriot Safin struggled to look on the bright side despite his win over Soderling.

The former world number one started the year ranked 12th but fell to outside the top 100 before climbing back up to his current position of 37th.

"It has been a terrible year for me," said Safin. "Disappointments following disappointments. I just want to stop.

"I want to get over this year and just continue a new year from the start because, really, this has been terrible."

And even the prospect of a Davis Cup final against Argentina cannot lift Safin's spirits.

"Yeah, but who cares?" he said. "Just for my personal career I think it was a disaster year. It is not even half okay."

Juan Ignacio Chela was leading Paradorn Srichaphan 6-3 3-0 in the first round when the Thai withdrew, and the Argentine meets Briton Andy Murray next.