Berdych en route to victory over Verdasco
Tomas Berdych needs just one more win at the Paris Masters to book his place at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Last year's Wimbledon runner-up moved within touching distance of a place in the elite eight-man field by beating Fernando Verdasco 6-3 7-5 on Tuesday to reach the third round.
The fifth-seeded Czech will now face either Alex Bogomolov or Janko Tipsarevic, another of the Tour Finals hopefuls, on Thursday knowing victory will book his London berth.
Three places in the field for the prestigious O2 Arena field remain up for grabs in Paris.
Currently Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Mardy Fish lead the race for them and all three will qualify if they reach the quarter-finals in Paris.
Decision
Andy Roddick has been a regular in the season's finale over the years but he won't be in London this year following a disappointing season.
However, he got his Paris campaign off to a good start with a 6-4 6-4 victory over Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
Meanwhile, Ivan Dodig set up a meeting wth Novak Djokovic by beating Italy's Fabio Fognini 4-6 6-1 6-3 in the first round.
The Croatian is now scheduled to meet the world number one on Wednesday but Djokovic, who was struggling with a shoulder problem when beaten in the Basel semi-finals by Kei Nishikori at the weekend, has yet to make a final decision on whether to play or not.
Sergiy Stakhovsky, who beat Nishikori, and Feliciano Lopez also won first-round matches on Tuesday, while home hope Jeremy Chardy progressed when last week's champion in Valencia, Marcel Granollers, retired after losing the set.
Chardy will play Briton Andy Murray in the second round on Wednesday.
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