Berdych edges closer to finals with victory over Verdasco

Czech Tomas Berdych is just one win away from securing his place in the ATP World Tour Finals in London later this month after beating Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in straight sets in the second round of the Paris Masters.

Fifth seed Berdych went through 6-3 7-5 and a last 16 victory against either 11th seed Janko Tipsarevic or Alex Bogomolov will ensure he becomes the sixth player to qualify for the season-ending climax on November 20.

And, in an evening match, sixth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga also edged closer to London with a 6-3 6-4 victory over Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain.

Also through to the third round is 13th seed Andy Roddick, who beat Julien Benneteau of France 6-4 6-4. However, despite his win, Roddick is not one of the seven players who can claim the three remaining places in the London line-up.

Has men’s tennis reached burn-out?

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and David Ferrer have all already qualified, with Berdych, Tsonga, Mardy Fish, Tipsarevic, Nicolas Almagro, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfilsthe players in contention for the remaining places.

Meanwhile, world number one Djokovic is still struggling with a shoulder injury, and it is unclear whether or not he will be able to face Croatian Ivan Dodig in his opening match on Wednesday.

Dodig was a first round winner over Italian Fabio Fognini on Tuesday, but he will have to wait until the morning to discover if he has been handed a walkover into the last 16.

Should Serb Djokovic fail to compete in Paris, he stands to lose $1.6 million in ATP bonus pool money.

Djokovic is entitled to $2 million from the bonus pool after ending the year as world number one.

However, he has already lost $400,000 of that amount by failing to play in Shanghai because of a back injury – one of eight obligatory Masters 1000 events for the top players.

And, under ATP rules, should he miss Paris – his second Masters absence – his $1.6 million remaining would disappear altogether.