Second seeded Roger Federer and Milos Raonic escaped a three set ordeal in their opening matchups at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Wednesday.

The 17-time Grand Slam champion edged out a tough match against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy which started out with an exchange of a couple of break points in the first set that went into a tie-break which Federer eventually pulled out ahead to take the set.

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The second set was more of the same with both players holding on to their serves to put the set into another tie-break where the hometown favorite edged out the 2011 former tournament champion 7-5 to even out the match.

In the third and deciding set, Federer managed to hold on to his serves while was plagued with unforced errors and with the help of three double faults, the 33-year-old Swiss finally broke Chardy to win the set and the match 7(7)-6(5) 6(5)-7(7) 6-4 that lasted two hours and 31 minutes.

"Chardy has made it hard for me in the past... I thought it could be tough, and it was," Federer said. "Could have lost the first, could have won the second, but it went the other way. So I think as the match went longer, the better I actually started to play and created more opportunities."

Federer, who is in pursuit of the World No. 1 ranking, now faces qualifier Lucas Pouille also from France who ousted 16^th seeded Italian Fabio Fognini in a hard earned two-setter 7(7)-6(5) 7(9)-6(7).

Canadian star Raonic also had a tough opening match against qualifier Jack Sock as he outhit the American in the first set, connecting eight service aces and breaking Sock once to easily capture the set.

Sock got aggressive in the second set while Raonic seemed to have relaxed a bit as the American took advantage of the Canadian's second serves to break Raonic late and take the set to even the match at one apiece.

In the decider, Raonic had three break point opportunities but Sock managed to save them all and send the third set into overtime where Raonic eventually pulled ahead to win the match 6-3 5-7 7(7)-6(4) that lasted just over two hours.

Raonic now meets 11^th seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the third round who defeated Richard Gasquet 6-2 6-4.

TagsRoger Federer, Milos Raonic, Jeremy Chardy