Paris - Nikolay Davydenko Thursday claimed the penultimate spot in ATP year-end field, as a loss by Spain's Fernando Verdasco at the Paris Masters guaranteed the Russian a place in the tournament. Davydenko lost to Swede Robin Soderling 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in their third-round clash. But a later defeat by Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Marin Cilic put Davydenko in for the November 22 start in London.
Croatian Marin Cilic dealt Fernando Verdasco a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 loss which could spell the end of the Spaniard's hopes for a place in the wrap-up.
Andy Murray joined the scrapheap of seeds, losing to Czech Radek Stepanek 1-6, 6-3, 6-4 a day after Roger Federer lost.
Murray managed 11 aces but was unable to prevent his experienced opponent from staging a comeback. But he admitted that a match finish at nearly 2 a.m. Thursday did not help his preparation against the tough Czech customer.
"It was gonna be difficult to come back and feel 100 percent. It's obviously a limited recovery after a long match.
"In the first set, I didn't feel like I played great. I won a lot of points with my serve. That was the case throughout the match.
"That was keeping me in the match. We got into long rallies, and I was making mistakes," said the fourth seed with six titles this season after winning Valencia at the weekend.
Spain's Verdasco can do no more as he tries to reach the last of the qualifying spots for the eight-man ATP final in London starting a week from Sunday.
Soderling and Paris holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both stayed in the long-odds sprint with victories. Also chasing is Fernando Gonzalez of Chile.
Tsonga kept his slender chances alive with a defeat of compatriot and 11th seed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3.
The French number one said he's not thinking about anything but this week.
"I'm not here for the Masters, I'm here for Bercy. I will only be qualified if I win this tournament, so I'm not thinking about London.
"I'm thinking about defending my title, or even more, about going to get a new title instead of thinking about London."
Third seed Novak Djokovic, already into the year-end event, beat Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-2 to make his top showing at Bercy after never going past the third round at the Bercy hall.
He will be the next obstacle for Soderling.
"Robin has a big chance to qualify for the London Masters Cup, so he's certainly going to certainly give his best tomorrow in the quarter-finals," said Djokovic. "He's a big server, and he is playing the year of his life, a lot of confidence.
"He can play great tennis on different surfaces. I just played him recently in Beijing where I won, and I'll try to play the same way I played there, with a lot of patience. I hope it can pay off."
