Tennis Masters Cup hopes still alive for Roddick, Del Potro; Djokovic wins in Paris

Seventh-seeded American Andy Roddick and ninth-seeded Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro (pictured) both came away victorious in the second round on Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. Australian Open champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia was also a winner on Day Two in France.

Currently ranked No. 7 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, Roddick helped his Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai chances tremendously with a convincing win over Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, 6-3, 6-4. Both players smashed a significant amount of aces throughout the 66-minute match with Roddick firing 13 and Lopez hitting 12 aces, but it was the veteran American who won 90 percent of his first serve points, while dropping only seven points on his second serve. The former World No. 1 and 2003 US Open champion broke Lopez’s serve twice, while the left-handed Spaniard did not have any break point opportunities throughout the fairly routine match. By reaching the semifinals this week, Roddick can clinch his spot in the year-end championships in Shanghai. Next up for Roddick is a third round match against either Tennis Masters Cup hopeful Gilles Simon or Russian Igor Andreev.

The 6’6” Argentine Del Potro who reached the semifinals last week in Basel played very steady tennis on the way to defeating Croatian Mario Ancic, 6-0, 6-4, in 79 minutes. A winner of four consecutive singles titles this past summer, the 20-year-old hit three aces, won 70 percent of service points and was able to break serve on four of seven chances throughout the match. Despite Ancic dropping only six points on his first serve throughout the match, he was only able to win eight of 29 second serve points. Currently ranked at a career best No. 9, Del Potro improves to 45-12 on the season and can punch a ticket to Shanghai with a run to the finals in Paris. Ancic falls to 32-16 on a year that has had many highs and lows, but included earning a law degree earlier this year from a University in his native Croatia. Del Potro will face either No. 8 seed David Nalbandian or German veteran Nicolas Kiefer for a place in the quarterfinals.

No. 3 seed Djokovic was leading Dmitry Tursunov, 6-2, 4-3, when the Russian retired from the match with a right shoulder injury. Before Tursunov’s injury, Djokovic had hit eight aces, made 81 percent of his first serves and broke the Russian on three occasions. Djokovic, who has already clinched a spot at the Tennis Masters Cup, improves to 60-15 on the season and will next face either No. 13 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga or Radek Stepanek in the third round on Thursday.

Others second round winners included No. 15 seed Fernando Verdasco of Spain and No. 16 seed Gael Monfils of France. Verdasco was able to grind through a tough three set match against fellow countryman Tommy Robredo, winning 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-2, in just over two hours. In the third round on Thursday, Verdasco will take on red-hot No. 4 seed Andy Murray or American Sam Querrey for a place in the final eight. With the hometown crowd behind him the entire match, Monfils was able to get past qualifier Juan Monaco, 6-4, 6-4, in 80 minutes. The 2008 Roland Garros semifinalist hammered 12 aces past his Argentine opponent while winning 92 percent of his first serve points. Next up for the entertaining young Frenchman is a third round date with either World No. 1 Rafael Nadal or lucky loser Florent Serra.

Other completed matches on Day Two in Paris
Singles – First Round
Robin Soderling def. (WC) Josselin Ouanna, 6-3, 6-4
Philipp Kohlschreiber def. Mikhail Youzhny, 6-1, 6-4
(Q) Ivan Ljubicic def. (Q) Viktor Troicki, 6-3, 6-4
(LL) Florent Serra def. (LL) Guillermo Canas, 4-6, 7-5, 6-3
Radek Stepanek def. Marc Gicquel, 6-4, 3-6, 6-4