Berdych upsets Coria, Davydenko advances in Paris Masters

PARIS—Tomas Berdych upset second-seeded Guillermo Coria 6-4, 6-2 Tuesday to reach the third round of the Paris Masters.
Argentine Coria needed to win to claim a spot in the Masters Cup in Shanghai, but looked sluggish against the 50th-ranked Czech. Coria’s qualification for the Masters Cup — featuring the top eight players in the ATP standings — depends on other results and eventual withdrawals.
Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin, Lleyton Hewitt and Andre Agassi already have qualified for the tournament Nov. 13-20. But Federer, Nadal and Safin are either injured or recovering from injuries.
A finalist at Bastad and a semifinalist at Washington this season, the 20-year-old Berdych will play either Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain or Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland in the next round.
Also Tuesday, third-seeded Nikolay Davydenko of Russia eased into the third round with a 6-2, 6-2 win over 1998 Paris Masters champion Greg Rusedski of Britain.
In a first-round match, Fernando Verdasco of Spain struggled before beating Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-7 (5), 7-5, 7-5. Verdasco next plays Robby Ginepri of the United States.
Greg Rusedski’s dream of ending 2005 as British number one suffered a major blow as he lost in straight sets to Nikolay Davydenko in the Paris Masters.
Victory would have seen Rusedski leapfrog Tim Henman in the world rankings but he was always second best against the impressive third seed.
Davydenko broke twice in each set to win 6-2 6-2 and reach the third round.
Rusedski will now look for the points he needs at a Challenger event in Ukraine in two weeks’ time.
But the 32-year-old will have some work to do when he gets to Dnepropetrovsk as he still has points to defend.
“I’ve got one more Challenger in the Ukraine and it would be great to get the top ranking but if not then I’ll do it in 2006,” said Rusedski.
“That’s a big deal for me to finish the year as the top player.
“It’s been a good 2005. I’ll be back in the top 40 and I picked up my 15th career title this year in Newport”.
Rusedski never looked like upsetting Davydenko, who needs to reach the final to guarantee a place at the Masters Cup.
The Russian, who reached the semi-finals of the French Open, dominated with some fierce returning and won in just under one hour.
“Some days it just does not happen for you,” said Rusedski. “And Davydenko was very motivated obviously.
“The way tennis is nowadays with the courts and the balls slowing down makes him a very dangerous rival.
“It was a losing battle for me staying back because he is obviously so good from the back.
“But then when I came forward I was getting passed. So then I tried to figure out something to mix up.
“But from the three options I did not know which one to take. Whichever one I chose today was the wrong one”.—Agencies