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Nadal, Djokovic, Tsonga reach Paris quarters

Thu 12th, November 2009

Paris, France (Sports Network) - Spaniard Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were among the third-round winners Thursday at the Paribas Masters, the final Masters event of the 2009 campaign.

The third-seeded Djokovic rolled to a 6-2, 6-2 victory over French qualifier Arnaud Clement, while the eighth-seeded Tsonga needed just 52 minutes to post a 6-2, 6-3 win over countrymate Gilles Simon.

Tsonga is the defending champion of this event and now controls his own destiny for a berth in the season-ending ATP Tour World Finals. If he can successfully defend this title, he will be one of the players in the exclusive eight-man field in London later this month.

"I will only qualify if I win this tournament, so I'm not thinking about London," said Tsonga. "I'm thinking about defending my title, or even more, about going to get a new title instead of thinking about London."

It might be a tall task for Tsonga, as he will face the second-seeded Nadal in the quarters. The Spanish superstar outlasted countrymate Tommy Robredo 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in a match that took two hours and 20 minutes to complete.

Fernando Verdasco of Spain was sitting in the eighth and final spot for London, but he was beaten Thursday by Marin Cilic. The 12th-seeded Croat came back from a set down to earn a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 triumph over the seventh-seeded Verdasco, who must wait to find out if he can still qualify for London.

Cilic will next meet Frenchman Gael Monfils, who breezed by countryman Julien Benneteau, 6-4, 6-3 on Thursday. Benneteau pulled the upset of the tournament on Wednesday with a second-round shocker over top-seeded Roger Federer.

Djokovic, coming off a victory over Federer in the Basel final on Sunday, will next face French Open runner-up Robin Soderling of Sweden in the quarters. The ninth-seeded Soderling kept his London hopes alive Thursday with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win over Russia's Nikolay Davydenko.

Davydenko, though, became the seventh player to qualify for the London field when Verdasco lost on Thursday.

Fourth-seeded Andy Murray, last week's winner in Valencia, was upset on Thursday. Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic dropped the first five games of the match, but rallied from a set down to notch a 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Scot.

The 13th-seeded Stepanek will take on U.S. Open champ and fifth-seed Juan Martin del Potro, who moved on when Chile's Fernando Gonzalez retired due to a sore right knee after two sets.

Gonzalez was thus eliminated from contention for the World Finals, having elected to pull out after del Potro saved seven match points to even the tilt at 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (8-6). The Argentine was the fifth player to qualify for London.

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