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BNP Paribas Masters—Paris, France
No. 6 seed Nikolay Davydenko, who won the BNP Paribas Masters in 2006, defeated Benjamin Becker in easy fashion on Tuesday, dispatching the powerful German, 6-2, 6-1.
The one-hour and 16-minute victory for the Russian was a significant boost in his claim of qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour final in London later this month.
Davydenko, who currently holds the No. 7 spot in the race to the Tour finale, added 90 points to his total and now stands 380 points clear of No. 8 Fernando Verdasco.
Davydenko also avenged a 2008 loss to Becker at The Wimbledon Championships. Becker, who won his maiden ATP World Tour title earlier this year in the Netherlands, was broken on five of 13 opportunities, while failing to convert on his four break-point chances.
With the loss, Becker ended his season with a 13-19 record, likely finishing in the top 50 for the first time in his career.
Davydenko, who improved to 53-15 on the season, will next face either No. 9 seed Robin Soderling or ace machine Ivo Karlovic.
Soderling is returning to action after being off for three weeks with a right elbow injury. Karlovic, who snapped a six-match losing streak by defeating Pablo Cuevas in first-round action, will attempt to surpass his best-ever result in Bercy, which was reaching the second round in 2007 (l. Federer).
Davydenko reflected on his performance on Monday, while looking forward to his likely qualification for the Tour finale in London.
"It was the same for me last year and the year before," said Davydenko.
"Four guys need to win this tournament [to qualify]. If somebody [reached] the final, it's not enough. It is not so easy for Tsonga or Soderling to reach the final and win [the] tournament."
Elsewhere, No. 8 seed Verdasco survived a listless performance in his first-round win over Andreas Seppi of Italy.
Verdasco's 6-7 (3), 6-4, 6-4 scratchy victory, could have been attributed to his nerves, considering that he needed to defeat Seppi to strengthen his chances of qualifying for London.
The win for Verdasco, which saw the Spaniard strike 43 unforced errors, eliminated Radek Stepanek and Marin Cilic's chances of qualifying for the Tour finale.
In order to qualify for London, both Stepanek and Cilic needed to win the event, while having Verdasco lose in his opening match.
The up-and-down affair between Verdasco and Seppi featured eight total breaks of serve during the two-hour and eight-minute contest. Verdasco was not able to save any of the break point chances against his serve (0-3), while Seppi managed to save 5-10 break point opportunities.
The Spaniard, who improved to 6-0 against Seppi in career meetings, gave a fist pump of relief to his corner after advancing to the third round.
Verdasco's road to continued success in Paris will be tested in the third round against either Lukasz Kubot or No. 12 seed Marin Cilic.
Cilic, who will be in tough against his Polish opponent on Wednesday, trails Verdasco 2-1 in career head-to-head meetings.
Kubot defeated Andreas Beck on Monday, adding to his fine month of tennis which last saw him defeat Andy Roddick at the Japan Open.
Elsewhere, Stanislas Wawrinka ended a year he would soon like to forget, losing in straight sets to French qualifier David Guez 6-3, 6-4. Wawrinka, who is ranked No. 21 in the world, failed to reach a Tour final all season, falling to 31-20 after his miserable loss to Guez on Tuesday.
Guez, who is currently ranked No. 179 on the computer, picked up his second career Tour-level victory over Wawrinka, improving his year-to-date record to 2-1. The 26-year-old Frenchman will next take on countryman No. 15 seed Gael Monfils in second-round action.
Monfils, who lost in the second round of Valencia last week, is also out of the running for a place in the Tour finale in London. The high-flying Paris native will attempt to improve on his 2-3 career mark at Bercy.
French hopeful Jeremy Chardy was ousted in first-round action on Tuesday, losing in straight sets to talented Argentine Juan Monaco, 7-6 (6), 7-5.
Chardy, who had high hopes of performing well on home soil, fell to 35-28 on the year, which includes capturing his maiden Tour title in Stuttgart, Germany.
Although Chardy was able to strike nine aces against Monaco, his points won on second serves, which totaled 35 percent, was far too low.
The loose limb Frenchman discussed his frustrations after his defeat.
"Today, I was frustrated because I was not able to do what I wanted to do," said Chardy. "When you are on the court and you just can't do what I want, it's always annoying."
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