PARIS: Sweden’s Robin Soderling kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the ATP Tour Championships by defeating Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the third round of the Paris Masters on Thursday. A win would have automatically clinched a slot in the eight-man, season-ending tournament for Davydenko, who came into Paris in seventh place in the standings. Soderling, meanwhile, was one of four other players still in the hunt for the two remaining places in London from November 22-29. A break of serve in the fourth game was enough to hand the first set to Soderling, who enjoyed the best performance of his career to date the last time he was in Paris, reaching the French Open final in June. Davydenko, who won his third Masters title in Shanghai last month, was given some pills to swallow by a doctor, and that seemed to work wonders as he jumped out into a decisive 3-0 lead in the second set. The deciding set was a tense affair with serves on top until the 10th game when Davydenko hit a backhand wide to set up match point and then drifted another backhand long to send Soderling into the last eight. The Swede though will still have to at least reach the final to have any chance of making it through to London. Next up for him, with a place in the semi-finals at stake, will be third seed Novak Djokovic who cruised past French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2 in 75 minutes. The 20078 Australian Open champion from Serbia is seeking to lift back-to-back titles following his win in Basel last week where he beat Roger Federer in the final. He is also eager to win his first Masters Series title of the year having lost in four finals. On Wednesday, World No 1 Roger Federer sank to a surprise 3-6, 7-6 (7/4), 6-4 second-round defeat against unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau. The Swiss ace looked on course for the third round after cruising through the first set but came unstuck in the second as uncharacteristic errors began to creep into his game. Benneteau, the world No 49, was roared on by his home crowd and secured the result of his life with an ace after bringing up match point by rattling a crosscourt backhand past the 15-time Grand Slam-winner. Second seed Rafael Nadal, meanwhile, admitted that he was “very lucky” after edging a titanic struggle with Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro 3-6, 7-6 (7/2), 7-5. Nadal saved five match points after falling 5-6 and 0-40 down in the second set. Nadal will now face another Spaniard in the form of 14th seed Tommy Robredo.