PARIS - Tomas Berdych made a happy return to the Paris
Masters.
Berdych began defense of his title with a hard-fought 6-7 (6-4),
6-4, 6-2 victory over Belgium's Olivier Rochus, serving 21 aces
to defeat a foe that he had lost to in their two previous
encounters.
Berdych was booed and whistled off the court after rubbing up
Rafael Nadal and thousands of Spanish fans the wrong way in his
last tournament in Madrid.
The 21-year-old Czech handled this occasion far better. Although
he lost the first set to Rochus, having failed to convert any
of the eight break points he had before the tiebreak, Berdych
broke the Belgian twice in each of the next two sets to reach
the third round.
Berdych next faces American Robby Ginepri on Thursday, a player
he has never faced.
"Of course when I come to the tournament, I'm trying for my
best, my 100 percent on the court," Berdych said. "So we will
see where my results are going to stop and I have to take
advantage that I won here last year, that I know the place and
everything is good. I'm feeling well here, so we're going to
see."
Regardless of how Berdych fares in Paris, he will not be going
to the Tennis Masters Cup later this month in Shanghai. He
needed to retain his title here and hope that other results
would go his way, but that did not happen.
Victories for seventh-seeded American James Blake and
sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo of Spain ended Berdych's bid to
qualify for the season's final event.
Blake took just under two hours to get the better of Frenchman
Arnaud Clement 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. Winner of five titles this year
but beaten early in Madrid and struggling for timing through
much of this match, Blake looked in trouble after losing the
second set and falling behind a break early in the decider.
But Clement, having edged ahead in his attempt to beat Blake for
the first time in five meetings, then tightened up. He dropped
his own serve twice in succession and ultimately failed to
break Blake in the final game, when the American had fallen
behind, love-40, while serving for the match.
"I'm really proud of the way it turned out," Blake said,
"because that I think differentiates me from how I played
probably four or five years ago when I was younger and just a
little more flashy and I definitely would have got down on
myself. ... (It) would have been easy to hang my head but I kept
fighting."
Germany's Tommy Haas, the 10th seed who is also still in the
running for Shanghai following his 7-6 (9-7), 7-6 (7-2) win
against Michael Llodra of France, will face Blake for a place in
the quarterfinals. Blake leads their series, 3-0.
Robredo's hold on a Masters Cup berth looked very shaky when he
trailed a rejuvenated Sebastien Grosjean of France by a set and
two breaks down at 2-5 in the second. But the Spaniard,
refusing to give up, won five games to force the decider.
Grosjean broke at the start of the third but then dropped four
games in succession as he struggled with a leg injury which
required treatment. Although he broke back in the penultimate
game, Robredo broke back for the seventh and final time to claim
a remarkable win.
Robredo's next opponent will be another Frenchman, Paul-Henri
Mathieu, who edged past Serbian 12th seed Novak Djokovic 7-6
(13-11), 7-6 (7-4). Mathieu saved six set points in the first
tiebreak and two more in the 10th game of the second set before
clinching the victory with his 13th ace after two hours, 40
minutes
Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, seeded fifth, needed to at least
reach the third round to qualify directly for Shanghai, although
he could still go as an alternate. Having made the finals of
his last three tournaments, Gonzalez ultimately wilted against
Julien Benneteau of France, who recovered for the second day
running from a double-break down in the final set and won, 3-6,
6-4, 7-5.
Benneteau now meets the Croatian ninth seed Mario Ancic, who
kept his Masters Cup hopes alive with a 3-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 win
over Kristof Vliegen of Belgium.
No. 14 seed Jarkko Nieminen of Finland beat Italy's Daniele
Bracciali, 6-3, 6-4, to face Russian lucky loser Teimuraz
Gabashvili, who upset Sweden's Thomas Johansson, 7-6 (7-3), 4-6,
6-3.
British 13th seed Andy Murray recovered from an early break
against him to beat Argentine Juan Ignacio Chela, 7-5, 6-0.
Murray will face 17th seed Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia, a 6-4,
6-3 winner over Russia's Igor Andreev.
Marat Safin's next opponent will be 16th-seeded Frenchman
Richard Gasquet, who rounded off the third day's play long after
midnight with a 7-5, 6-1 win over Stanislas Wawrinka of
Switzerland.