Moya, Roddick chase final two Masters Cup spots

The race to qualify for the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai has almost reached its conclusion as only two spots are yet to be decided at the Paris Masters this week.

Thursday's play resulted in Spaniards Juan Carlos Ferrero and Albert Costa -- the French Open champion -- and Switzerland's Roger Federer all qualifying. They join Australian world number one Lleyton Hewitt, American Andre Agassi and Russian Marat Safin in the eight-man field.

Ferrero and Costa both qualified despite being knocked out of the Bercy tournament.

Ferrero benefited from Tim Henman's loss to Nicolas Escude while Costa captured the spot reserved for Grand Slam champions after Agassi defeated Australian Open winner Thomas Johansson in the third round on Thursday.

Federer booked his place in Shanghai with a victory over Tommy Haas.

Spain's Carlos Moya will qualify if he beats Andre Agassi on Friday. If he loses he will still qualify if Andy Roddick fails to win the title in Bercy.

Czech Jiri Novak, who lost in the second round here to Andrei Pavel, will qualify if Moya loses on Friday and Roddick does not win the tournament.

Briton Henman and German Haas were both eliminated from the race on Thursday.