World number one Roger Federer slumped to a surprise 3-6, 7-6, 6-4 defeat by unheralded Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday. Top seed Federer, who had a first-round bye, made an unusual high number of unforced errors to fall to the unseeded Benneteau, ranked 49th in the world.
Marat Safin bid farewell to his adoring Chinese fans after defeat at the Shanghai Masters on Wednesday but not before taking a swipe at his opponent Tomas Berdych and American Andy Roddick.
World number one Rafael Nadal pulled out of the season-ending Masters Cup on Monday because of injury. The Spaniard was forced to retire from his Paris Masters quarter-final against Russian Nikolay Davydenko last week because of a knee problem and said the packed tennis calendar had taken its toll on his body.
Argentine David Nalbandian and France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will battle it out for the last Masters Cup spot in the final of the Paris Masters after winning their semi-final matches on Saturday. Nalbandian battled for a 6-1, 5-7, 6-4 victory over Russian world number six Nikolay Davydenko, while local favourite Tsonga advanced with a 6-4, 6-3 defeat of James Blake. The result ended the American's hopes of qualifying for the season-ending tournament.
Hopes of a dream final between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer were dashed on Friday when the top two seeds pulled out injured from their quarter-final matches at the Paris Masters. Federer withdrew with a back injury a few hours before his match against American James Blake, while Nadal quit his showdown with world number six Nikolay Davydenko after losing the first set 6-1.
Only once in 16 previous appearances has Federer not survived the group stage, back in 2008. IMAGES from the ATP Finals played at The O2 Arena in London on Sunday
Rafael Nadal is expected to be released from a clinic in Barcelona on Tuesday after undergoing a successful appendectomy, the world number three's spokesman said.
Andy Murray took another step towards securing a World Tour finals berth when he fought off a typically dogged David Ferrer to win 6-4, 7-5 and move into the final of the Valencia Open on Saturday.
Injured world number one Rafael Nadal pledged to do everything in his power to get fit in time for Spain's Davis Cup final against Argentina in just over two weeks.
Spain's David Ferrer has qualified for the season-ending Masters Cup featuring the world's top eight players.
Argentine David Nalbandian extended his perfect record against Rafael Nadal by crushing the world number two 6-4, 6-0 in the final of the Paris Masters Series tournament on Sunday.
Chilean Fernando Gonzalez became the seventh player to qualify for this month's Masters Cup despite losing in the second round of this week's Paris Masters.
Eleven days after beating Federer in the Madrid Masters final, the unseeded Argentine beat the elegant Swiss in the third round of the Paris Masters.
The 14-time Grand Slam winner said he is happy and proud to have reached the summit of the game for a fourth separate spell.
Marcos beat holder Nikolay Davydenko 6-2, 6-2 in the third round of the Paris Masters Series.
With Federer certain, young Austrian Dominic Thiem is third in the ATP race to London, followed by Stan Wawrinka, Alexander Zverev, Djokovic, world number one Andy Murray, and Belgium's David Goffin.
Serbian tennis superstar Novak Djokovic has said that he thinks former World No.1 Roger Federer, who he faces on Tuesday at the ATP World Tour Finals, is noticeably slower on court.
Swiss Roger Federer came back from a slow start to beat Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the second round at the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel.
World No 1 Rafael Nadal, who is hoping to recover from a knee injury to play in the season-ending showpiece, heads the other group and will face Belgian David Goffin, Bulgarian debutant Grigor Dimitrov and Austrian Dominic Thiem.
Argentine David Nalbandian crushed local favourite Richard Gasquet while world number two Rafael Nadal. beat Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis in the semi-finals.
France's Richard Gasquet ended Andy Murray's Masters Cup hopes by beating the British number one 6-3, 0-6, 6-4 in the Paris Masters Series quarter-finals on Friday.
Frenchman Fabrice Santoro crushed Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-2 in the second round of the Paris Masters.
Russia's Mikhail Youzhny kept alive slim hopes of qualifying for the Masters Cup by downing Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4 6-3 in the opening round of the Paris Masters on Monday.
Andy Murray's charge towards the world number one ranking continued as he beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3 7-6(6) to claim the Vienna Open title on Sunday. The Briton, seeking to end Serbian Novak Djokovic's stranglehold on the number one spot by the end of the year, was cruising towards his third consecutive title before Tsonga turned the match into a real fight.
They were beaten by the Czech duo of Martin Damm and Cyril Suk in the first round of the Paris Masters.
Three-times champion and world number one Novak Djokovic has been drawn in a group with U.S. Open champion Marin Cilic in next week's season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
World number one Rafael Nadal will face compatriot David Ferrer at next week's ATP World Tour Finals in London, with last year's champion Novak Djokovic and runner-up Roger Federer drawn in the second group on Saturday.
Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan says he will be fit to defend his Asian Games singles title in Doha next month.
The American secured the eighth and last spot at the season-ending tournament Tommy Haas pulled out of his Paris Masters semi-final against Slovak Dominik Hrbaty.
Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty qualified for the final of the Paris Masters on Saturday after German Tommy Haas retired in their semi-final to drop out of the Masters Cup race.
Mario Ancic's defeat left only two players, American James Blake and German Tommy Haas, in contention for the last remaining slot at the season-ending Masters Cup.
Russia's Marat Safin knocked out Swede Robin Soderling in a second-round match at the Paris Masters.
"It happened to me but I will not tell you where or how," Arnaud Clement told reporters after his first-round defeat by Russia's Mikhail Youzhny at the Paris Masters Series tournament.
"It has been an amazing year. One year ago, for sure I never dreamed about being World No. 1 again at the end of the season. It's something that means a lot to me. But the season is not over."
Czech Tomas Berdych booked his place in the ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth time in a row when he advanced into the semi-finals of the Paris Masters with a 6-7(4) 6-4 6-4 victory over South African Kevin Anderson on Friday.
Images from Monday's action at the Australian Open.
The organisers of European Masters Series tournaments will meet in Paris on Tuesday to discuss ways to curb the number of withdrawals by leading players.
The towering Croatian, who has won 20 of his last 22 matches, will meet the unfancied Tomas Berdych in the Paris Masters final.
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