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Davydenko, Tsonga win Paris openers

Tue 10th, November 2009

Paris, France (Sports Network) - Former champion Nikolay Davydenko and reigning titlist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were a pair of second-round winners Tuesday at the Paribas Masters, the final Masters tournament of the season.

The sixth-seeded Davydenko, who titled here back in 2006, blew past German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1, while an eighth-seeded Tsonga handled Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 7-5 at Palais Omnisports. The former Aussie Open runner-up Tsonga, of France, topped Argentine David Nalbandian in last year's indoor finale here.

Tsonga will meet Gilles Simon in an all-French third-rounder here on Thursday. An 11th-seeded Simon held off resurgent Croat Ivan Ljubicic, a titlist in Lyon here in France two weeks ago, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

In some other second-round action, seventh-seeded Spanish slugger Fernando Verdasco came from behind to beat scrappy Italian Andreas Seppi 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4.

This week's 16 seeds all received opening-round byes.

The first round wrapped up on Tuesday, as a trio of Frenchmen moved into the round of 32 on Day 3. Julien Benneteau overcame German Philipp Petzschner 4-6, 7-5, 6-3, while qualifier David Guez grounded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4 and veteran French crowd favorite Arnaud Clement, a qualifier this week, cut down Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1.

In other opening-round action, Argentine Juan Monaco downed France's Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (8-6), 7-5 and Spaniard Nicolas Almagro erased Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-2, 6-4.

The second round will conclude with 12 matches here on Wednesday, including ones for the top-five players in the world.

No. 1 superstar Roger Federer will take on Benneteau, while Rafael Nadal will meet his fellow Spaniard Almagro, Novak Djokovic will encounter Monaco, Andy Murray will face American James Blake, and Juan Martin del Potro will be opposed by Russian Marat Safin, a three-time Paris Indoors champion, two-time major titlist and former world No. 1 who will retire from professional tennis at the end of this tournament.

Federer is the reigning Wimbledon and French Open champion and was upset by Djokovic in last week's final in Federer's hometown of Basel. Nadal is the reigning Aussie Open champ, while Murray is fresh off his title last week in Valencia and del Potro is the reigning U.S. Open titlist, having stunned Federer in the final in New York back in September.

This is the final event before the season-ending ATP Tour World Finals, which will take place from November 22-29 in London. Two spots remain open for that exclusive eight-man field.

This week's winner will claim $675,000.