Nalbandian, Roddick Boost Tennis Masters Cup Hopes

Defending Tennis Masters Cup champion David Nalbandian moved to within striking distance of No. 7 Tommy Robredo and No. 6 James Blake in the race for Shanghai berths by reaching the quarterfinals of Vienna on Thursday. Playing his first tournament since the US Open, Nalbandian defeated Oliver Marach 6-2, 6-3 to set up a quarterfinal showdown with fellow South American Fernando Gonzalez.
Should Nalbandian win that match and advance to the semifinals, the Argentine will move to within three points of Robredo and four points of Blake in the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race. The top eight players in the race will qualify for Tennis Masters Cup.
Nalbandian, who currently sits in eighth spot in the Race, will be able to count all points he earns this week towards his points total. Blake, who has a 'best fifth' result of 31 points, can only add to his total if he wins the Stockholm title. Blake would add 14 points to his total (45 winner's points less his 'best fifth' result of 31 points) by winning his fifth title of the season. Nalbandian, who has not yet played five International Series events in 2006, would add 50 points by winning the Vienna title. Robredo is not playing this week.
For the second consecutive match Andy Roddick (pictured) did not face a break point in his 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-3 win over Frenchman Richard Gasquet. The US Open finalist won 87 percent of points on his first serve and served eight aces in his first meeting with Gasquet.
Roddick, currently No. 4 in the INDESIT ATP Race, will move ahead of No. 3 Ivan Ljubicic if he wins one more round than the Croat this week. (If both players lose their quarterfinal matches No. 5 Davydenko could move to No. 3 by winning the Moscow title.)
Australian Open finalist Marcos Baghdatis raced through the first set of his match with Stefan Koubek but the Austrian rebounded to claim an upset 1-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 win over the fourth seed. Baghdatis began the week just one point behind No. 8 David Nalbandian in the INDESIT ATP Race, but will now lose ground to the Argentine in the battle for the eighth spot in the race to Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.
Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka upset eighth seed and last week's Metz champion Novak Djokovic 6-3, 6-3. Wawrinka, 21, who also defeated Djokovic to win his first ATP title in Umag in July, improved to 29-21 on the year and is now just one win away from his fourth semifinal of the year.
Austrian Jurgen Melzer, who lost to Djokovic in the Metz final, defeated Polish qualifier Lukas Kubot 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.