Soderling Keeps Alive Qualification Dream, Del Potro Saves 7 M.P.

© 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 at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday to keep alive his chances of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. 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 the defeat, Davydenko has qualified for the elite eight-man season finale at The O2 in London, following fellow contender Fernando Verdasco’s loss to Marin Cilic later in the day. The Russian, who will make his fifth straight appearance at the season climax, finished runner-up to Novak Djokovic last year.

Davydenko’s qualification means that Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will battle this week in a bid to clinch the last remaining singles berth, while eighth-placed Verdasco faces an anxious wait to learn his fate.

Soderling will next challenge ATP World Tour 2009 match-wins leader 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.

Watch Live Streaming

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 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.

Chilean Fernando Gonzalez saw his Barclays ATP World Tour Finals qualifications hopes come to an end, retiring from his third-round match with a leg injury after World No. 5 Juan Martin del Potro levelled the score at 6-7(6), 7-6(6). Gonzalez held seven match points, and managed to convert just one of his 16 break point chances during the two-hour, 24-minute battle.

Del Potro, who defeated three-time BNP Paribas Open champion Marat Safin in his opening match this week, next faces Czech Radek Stepanek, a three-sets winner over World No. 4 Andy Murray on Thursday. Stepanek won their one previous meeting this past February in the Memphis quarter-finals.