Cermak/Mertinak, Mirnyi/Ram Clinch Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Berths

© Getty ImagesFrantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak have won five ATP World Tour doubles titles this year.

Just one doubles berth at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London remains up for grabs after Wednesday's play at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak, the winners of five ATP World Tour doubles titles this year, qualified after advancing to the quarter-finals and after seeing fellow contenders Wesley Moodie and Dick Norman suffer an opening-round loss in Paris. The loss of Moodie and Norman (to Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo) also resulted Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram qualifying, as the team now can finish no lower than eighth position.

Mirnyi, 32, is not competing at the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament this week.  His wife, Xenia, nicknamed “Ksusha”, gave birth to a boy, Demid, on Tuesday afternoon in Bradenton, Florida.  “Ksusha and Demic are healthy and feeling fine,” said the proud father.

In Paris Wednesday, the eighth-seeded Czech-Slovak team of Cermak and Mertinak saved all four break points they faced to knock out fellow contenders Bruno Soares and Kevin Ullyett 6-3, 6-4 Wednesday at the BNP Paribas Masters, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tennis tournament.

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Cermak and Mertinak have a 46-24 match record on the season, highlighted by titles at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel in Acapulco, the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, the ATP Studena Croatia Open in Umag, the BCR Open Romania in Bucharest and last week at the Valencia Open 500.  They have also finished runner-up at the Movistar Open in Vina del Mar and the Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

Elsewhere, Simon Aspelin and Paul Hanley knocked out third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles 6-4, 6-7(6), 10-7 in one hour and 43 minutes for a place in the quarter-finals.

Aspelin and Hanley won 80 per cent of service points, hit four aces and saved all four break points they faced against this year’s Australian Open and US Open finalists.  The duo led 5-2 in the second set tie-break and squandered one match point at 6-5.  Bhupathi and Knowles dropped to a 36-18 match record on the season.

Jordan Kerr and Travis Parrott also accounted for a seeded team in the second round Wednesday. Kerr and Parrott defeated fourth seeds Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 6-7(5), 6-4, 10-5 in one hour and 34 minutes.  Dlouhy and Paes, who captured the Roland Garros and US Open titles earlier this year, dropped to 24-13 on the year.

Read about Dlouhy and Paes in the next issue of DEUCE from 19 November.

Seventh seeds Fyrstenberg and Matkowski progressed to the quarter-finals with a 6-4, 7-5 win over Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer in 74 minutes.  The duo improved to a 30-23 record on the year.