America's James Blake struck the first blow in what will be a
tense, last-chance battle to reach the Masters Cup when he made the
Paris Masters third round.
Seventh seed Blake saw off gutsy Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4,
3-6, 6-4 to reinforce his bid for a place in the elite eight-man
field in Shanghai.
World number one Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic and
Andy Roddick, who all skipped the Paris event, have already booked
their places in the China showpiece as has Nikolay Davydenko, the
top-ranked player here.
Blake came into Paris in seventh place in the race just behind
David Nalbandian, another absentee from the French capital.
His win now puts the pressure back on Shanghai rivals Fernando
Gonzalez and Tommy Robredo both of whom open their Paris campaigns
later in the day.
France's Paul-Henri Mathieu won a marathon second round clash
against Novak Djokovic leaving the beaten Serbian teenager to
regret his decision to enter the court sporting a Zorro-style face
mask.
Mathieu clinched a third round match against either compatriot
Sebastien Grosjean or Spanish sixth seed Tommy Robredo with his 7-6
(13/11), 7-6 (7/4) win.
Nineteen-year-old Djokovic, the 12th seed, had come into the
tournament enjoying the best season of his career with two titles
in 2006 having pushed his ranking up to 16 in the world.
With his confidence on a high, he strolled on to centre court
wearing the black Zorro mask, associated with the fictional Mexican
hero, and he had plenty of opportunities to back up that
self-belief.
But the 24-year-old Mathieu bravely saved six set points in the
first set tiebreaker and two more in the 10th game of the second
set before wrapping up victory with his 13th ace after 2hr 40min on
court.
One of those set points in the tiebreaker was saved when Mathieu
successfully appealed a forehand, that had been called out, under
the Hawk-Eye instant replay.
"I had a feeling the shot was good, that it was in," said
Mathieu. "That's why I challenged it."
Defending champion Tomas Berdych moved into the third round with
a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 win over Belgium's Olivier Rochus.
The eighth-seeded Czech, who had never beaten the pint-sized
Rochus in two previous meetings, now meets America's Robby
Ginepri.
"It was a tough match because I had already lost twice to
Olivier," said the 21-year-old Berdych. "So I'm happy that I made
it through."
Unheralded Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili, who was handed a place
in the second round when Federer pulled out, gratefully accepted
his opportunity.
The 21-year-old, who had won only five matches on the tour in
2006 and had originally lost in qualifying, beat Sweden's former
Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-3.
He now faces Finnish 14th seed Jarkko Nieminen who cruised past
Italian qualifier Daniele Bracciali 6-3, 6-4.
German 10th seed Tommy Haas also reached the third round with a
7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2) win over Michael Llodra.
(AFP?November 2, 2006)