Verdasco, Davydenko and Tsonga advanced at the Paris Masters
Nikolay Davydenko, Jo-Wilfriend Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco scored second-round wins at the Paris BNP Paribas Masters.
Davydenko defeated Benjamin Becker 6-2 6-1 while Verdasco needed to work hard to beat Andreas Seppi 6-7 6-4 6-4 and Tsonga made it past Albert Montanes 6-1 7-5.
Davydenko will now meet Robin Soderling or Ivo Karlovic in the next round.
“Every year it’s the same, whether I’m in (the World Tour Finals) or not depends on how I play in Paris, and I’m always in,” Davydenko said.
Davydenko is fighting against Verdasco, Tsonga, Fernando Gonzalez and Robin Soderling for a place in the World Tour Finals in London.
Verdasco had a 4-1 lead in the first set but found himself 1-5 down in a tie-break and could not recover as Seppi sealed a one-set lead. The Spaniard broke early in the second set but, despite allowing Seppi to level at 4-4 after a forehand error, was able to regain his advantage immediately with a backhand drop volley to lead 5-4, before comfortably serving out the set to level the match.
In the third set, Verdasco went up 2-0 but more nervous errors proved costly as Seppi hit back to lead 3-2. At 4-4 Verdasco broke Seppi’s serve and then held serve to closed out the win.
"I think that it was more that last week was a hard week for me," explained Verdasco. "Sunday I was driving from Valencia to Madrid and yesterday I came to Paris, and I just practised for one hour in the afternoon. So I didn't have much time to prepare. My legs were not 100 per cent ready for the match. But I just tried to win the match. I gave my best, and I think that was the key to winning the match, after I lost 7-6 in the first set."
"Of course I'm thinking about that (qualifying), because I think it's a good motivation," added Verdasco about his chances to get into the Tour final in London. "I think that I need to have it in my mind. I need to think about it and know that I need to win all the matches I can to qualify for myself. Not wait for the other players, how they do.
"It was my big challenge for this year, and this week is the last week. After this, everything is going to be decided. So I'm giving my best in the last chance, the last week to try to do it."
In the next round Fernando Verdasco next will face either Lukasz Kubot or Marin Cilic.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals thanks to his win over Montanez where he served 12 aces and converted all three break points chances.
"I felt really good from the start," said Tsonga. "Even when I warmed up, the feeling was that magically my tennis was back. So it was very good for me. I played a good match. I made some mistakes, but it was overall a rather satisfying match, and this is what counts."
Reflecting on his season, and his chances of qualifying for the season finale, Tsonga said: "I have mixed feelings about it. There were good things. I reached the goal I had set. Three tournaments a year is a good result, so I'm not going to minimize what I achieved. But I'm not going to maximize it either. I think I would have been in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals if I had played better in the important moments of the season, which means the Grand Slam tournaments. So it's a pity. I believe I could have done better. But I hope next year will be even better."
Tsonga next will next play Gilles Simon, who beat Ivan Ljubicic 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(4) i
Source ATP/Yahoo
Photo credit should read JAIME REINA/AFP/Getty Images
