Verdasco win knocks Cilic, Stepankek from London race

St Petersburg News.Net
Tuesday 10th November, 2009 (IANS)

Fernando Vedasco kept pace with Russian front-runner Nikolay Davydenko Tuesday at the Paris Masters, with the Spaniard's win eliminating a pair of rivals from the chase to the year-end championships.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the holder, also preserved his place among the candidates with a defeat of Alberto Montanes 6-1, 7-5.

Seventh-seed Verdasco, expecting to play a day later at the Bercy arena, had to make quick preparations, but managed the transition nicely in a defeat of Italian Andreas Seppi 6-7 (7-3), 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

The win eliminated two of the seven men still in the race for the pair of spots remaining at the World Tour Finals in London from Nov 22, as Marin Cilic and Radek Stepanek are now out of contention.

Davydenko, first in the qualifying queue ahead of Verdasco, moved into position for a place when he won his second-round match 6-2, 6-1 over German Benjamin Becker after a first-round bye.

Sixth seed Davydenko, 29, lifted the Paris title in 2006.

The world Top 10, except injured Andy Roddick, are playing in Paris, the last event of the ATP regular season.

French qualifier David Guez beat Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-3, 6-4, while Juan Monaco of Argentina defeated Jeremy Chardy of France 7-6 (8-6), 7-5.

France took two more home wins on the day as Julien Benneteau defeated German Philipp Petzschner 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 and Arnaud Clement put out Spain's Feliciano Lopez 6-3, 6-1.

'I just did my job today,' said Verdasco. 'I just tried to win, because it's for myself. Of course I'm thinking about London, it's a good motivation. I need to have it in my mind.'

Off-court, Nadal struck a blow for player dignity, with the second seed again declaring his distaste for the draconian 'whereabouts' rule, which has already seen two competitors banned for a year.

Nadal will begin his campaign in the second round facing compatriot Nicolas Almagro, who put out Swiss Marco Chiudinelli 6-2, 6-4.

'I am the first who wants a very clean sport, more than anyone, believe me,' said the four-time French Open champion who has repeatedly said that a regulation requiring players to report their location for at least an hour per day every day of the year is well out of line.

'In my opinion, it is not the right way. I would love to have a few changes. I think that's too much to say every day of your life where you are.'

Failure to fulfill the conditions resulted last week in one-year suspensions for women's US Open semi-finalist Yanina Wickmayer and ATP player Xavier Malisse, who says the ban will likely end his once-promising career

The Belgian pair were slapped down after missing three reports in a three-month period.

Nadal says there is no doubt as to where his sympathies are.

'I'm gonna be always with the player, I will have to defend the player,' said the vice-president of the ATP Player Council headed by Roger Federer.

'I have confidence on my colleagues and other players - I always believe they are clean.'

The WTA is already backing plans to lighten the reporting responsibility for athletes in competition, with officials from the drug watchdog World Anti-Doping Agency well aware of their locations during tournament weeks.

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