Soderling stuns Davydenko at Paris Masters

A win would have automatically clinched a slot in the eight-man, season-ending tournament for Davydenko.

Sweden's Robin Soderling kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Tour Championships by defeating Russia's Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday.

A win would have automatically clinched a slot in the eight-man, season-ending tournament for Davydenko, who came into Paris in seventh place in the standings.

Soderling, meanwhile, was one of four other players still in the hunt for the two remaining places in London from November 22-29.

A break of serve in the fourth game was enough to hand the first set to Soderling, who enjoyed the best performance of his career to date the last time he was in Paris, reaching the French Open final in June.

Davydenko, who won his third Masters title in Shanghai last month, was given some pills to swallow by a doctor, and that seemed to work wonders as he jumped out into a decisive 3-0 lead in the second.

The deciding set was a tense affair with serves on top until the 10th game when Davydenko hit a backhand wide to set up match point and then drifted another backhand long to send Soderling into the quarter-finals.

The Swede though will still have to at least reach the final to have any chance of making it through to London.

Next up for him, with a place in the quarter-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes.

The 20078 Australian Open champion from Serbia is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week where he beat Roger Federer in the final.

He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year having lost in four finals.

In third round action later Thursday will be Andy Murray of Britain who goes up against wily Czech Radek Stepanek and second seed Rafael Nadal, who saved five match points on Wednesday to get past fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro.

Nadal will have another countryman standing in his way in the shape of Tommy Robredo.

Top seed Federer has already departed, dropping a shocker in three sets to French journeyman Julien Benneteau late Wednesday for his earliest exit in a tournament this year.

That defeat also prolonged a miserable run for the Swiss star at the Paris Bercy tournament having failed to make it past the quarter-finals in seven attempts, his worst record in any of the Masters Series events.

Federer will instead turn his attention to London and the ATP Tour Championships.