ATP Staff

Getty ImagesRobin SoderlinATP Staff
|
12.11.2009






Getty ImagesRobin Soderling kept alive his chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.





Ninth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling won a tense do-or-die third-round clash against sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a fellow Barclays ATP World Tour Finals contender, at the BNP Paribas Masters
in Paris on Thursday. It kept alive a five-way battle for the last two
singles berths at the prestigious season climax in London from 22-29
November.
Soderling avenged last month's Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009
semi-final defeat to Davydenko with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win in the pair's
fourth meeting this year. Despite hitting 11 aces and saving eight of
10 break points, Davydenko must now wait on other players' results at
the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament if he is to qualify for the
elite eight-man event at The O2 in the English capital.
Soderling will next challenge ATP World Tour 2009 match-wins leader Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the quarter-finals. Third seed Djokovic cruised past French wild card Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 76 minutes for a spot in the last eight for the first time in five appearances.
The 25-year-old Soderling, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Roland Garros
in June, improved to a 47-18 match record on the season. He added 90
South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points for 3,010 points overall
and remains 290 points behind No. 8-ranked Spaniard Fernando Verdasco
(3,300). Davydenko, a winner of four ATP World Tour titles this year,
is currently No. 7 in the year-to-date rankings with 3,630 points.

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Soderling,
who also reached the 2003 quarter-finals (l. to Mirnyi) at the Palais
Omnisports, opened up a 3-1 after 18 minutes when he converted his
third break-point opportunity. He was forced to save one break point
in the fifth game and came close to a 5-1 lead. Soderling eventually
closed out the first set in 46 minutes, having won 67 per cent of
service points and hit four aces.
Davydenko, looking to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
for a fifth straight year, sprang into action and broke Soderling's
serve to love in the second game of the second set. He maintained the
advantage and levelled the score line at one-set apiece after 31
minutes.
It looked as if the third set would be decided
on a tie-break, as both players gave little away on serve. Davydenko
was forced to save two break points in the second game, but at 4-5 he
gifted Soderling two match points with an unforced error. The
28-year-old Russian hit a backhand long on the first match point to
give Soderling victory in two hours and three minutes.
Djokovic,
victor over local favourite Clement in the second match on Court
Central, improved to 73-18 on the year. He has a 4-5 record in ATP
World Tour finals this year and captured the Davidoff Swiss Indoors Basel
title (d. Federer) last week. The 22 year old has amassed 7,090 points
in the year-to-date South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings.










g kept alive his chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.