How the 22-year-old Indian reached the Show Court at US Open, finding himself against 20-time Grand Slam Champion Roger Federer after beginning the year outside 350.
The pair weathered a tough opening set to beat Safin and his compatriot 7-5, 6-3.
World number two Andy Roddick will take on in-form Russian Marat Safin in the season-ending ATP Tennis Masters Cup.
Roger Federer made a comfortable start to his quest for a 100th title, despatching Fabio Fognini in straight sets to ease into the quarter-finals at the Paris Masters on Thursday.
Images from Monday's action at the Australian Open.
Paes and Nenad Zimonjic entered the semi-finals of the Madrid Masters beating Mahesh Bhupathi and Martin Damm on Friday.
The second seeds went down to Wayne Black and Kevin Ulyett in the Pacific Open ATP Tennis Masters.
Roger Federer bounced back to form with a quick-fire win over Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan on Tuesday as he began his bid for a seventh title at his hometown tournament in Basel.
David Ferrer has backed fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal to bounce back to winnings ways, saying the latter will surely be a major contender in all the grand slams next year provided he remains injury-free.
World number three and defending champion Roger Federer suffered a surprise defeat in the second round of the Shangahi Masters on Tuesday, losing 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-3 to Spain's Albert Ramos-Vinolas.
The sixth seed Indo-Serbian duo lost to Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro of France, seeded eighth, 6-3, 6-2.
They were beaten by French duo Michael Llodra and Fabrice Santoro in the semifinals of the ATP Tennis Masters in Rome.
A summary of sports events and persons who made news on Friday
From 2022 a new event for under 14s will be staged at the All England Club during the second week of the Championships.
Before the tournament, top seed Djokovic declared the three should be favourites to win the Slams, and Federer agreed when asked after his Evans match.
Andy Murray's charge towards the world number one ranking continued as he beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 7-6(6) to claim the Vienna Open title on Sunday. The Briton, seeking to end Serbian Novak Djokovic's stranglehold on the number one spot by the end of the year, was cruising towards his third consecutive title before Tsonga turned the match into a real fight.
Roddick ended the season ranked No. 1 but Wimbledon champion Federer is being hailed as the best player in men's tennis.
American tennis great Jimmy Connors has put his hand up for one of the toughest coaching assignments in the world by offering to mentor Australia's wayward talent Nick Kyrgios.
The world number one registered an easy 6-4, 6-3 victory in the quarter-final of the Hamburg Masters.
The Indo-Belarussian pair lost to Arnaud Clement and Sebastian Grosjean in the second round at the Miami Masters.
Bhupathi and partner Max Mirnyi advanced to the second round in the ATP Tennis Masters while Paes and Divid Rikl lost in the first.
Bernard Tomic ruled himself out of representing Australia at the Rio Olympics in August due to his 'extremely busy' playing schedule.
Images from Day 4 of the Australian Open in Melbourne on Thursday.
The former world number one said that his target for next season was to win a medal at the Olympic Games in Athens.
This was the first Futures title on Indian soil for the third seeded Pakistani.
Czech Tomas Berdych booked his place in the ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth time in a row when he advanced into the semi-finals of the Paris Masters with a 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 victory over South African Kevin Anderson on Friday.
Andy Roddick, Juan Carlos Ferrero and Roger Federer are in the running for the title at next week's Masters Cup.\n\n
The Indo-Czech pair clinched one of the three remaining berths for season-ending event from Nov 8 to 16.
The top two seeds survived second-round scares at the Madrid Masters.
Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start as he continued the bid to retain his world number one ranking with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over 14th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Paris Masters third round.
The top seeds will take on seventh seeds Wayne Arthurs and Paul Hanley of Australia.
Murray, 28, moved up above Federer to second in the ATP's latest rankings on Monday, courtesy of his dazzling displays in Montreal culminating in 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 victory over Serb Djokovic in an absorbing three-hour duel.
The pair beat the Czech Republic duo of Frantisek Cermak/Leos Friedl in the semi-finals.
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