Russia's Marat Safin powered into the third round of the Rome Masters on Thursday, beating 10th seed Paradorn Srichaphan 6-2, 6-2.

The 24-year-old Russian, who reached the semi-finals of last month's Masters Series in Monte Carlo, overpowered the Thai. He returned aggressively to break Paradorn in his opening two service games and race to a 4-0 lead.

The second set was just as one-sided as Safin used his heavy groundstrokes to move his opponent around the court.

The former US Open champion, whose world ranking plummeted last year as he struggled to recover from a wrist injury, will face Chilean clay court specialist Nicolas Massu later on Thursday for a place in the quarter-finals.