Roddick, Ferrero survive tough matches at Paris Masters

PARIS -- U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero won tough matches Tuesday in advancing to the third round of the Paris Masters.

Roddick, seeded second, edged Victor Hanescu of Romania 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-4) and will next play Tommy Robredo of Spain.

"I was lucky to even take the first set to a tiebreaker," Roddick said. "He had a couple of set points but I scrapped, clawed around and hung in there."

The top-ranked Ferrero withstood the booming serves of French qualifier Nicolas Mahut in a 7-6 (9-7), 6-4 victory.

"I had never seen him play before," Ferrero said. "But if he maintains that level of play he can go far."

Ferrero, who this year won the French Open and two Masters titles, will face the winner of Wednesday's match between Fabrice Santoro and Jiri Novak.

Three-time French Open winner Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil ousted big-serving American Mardy Fish 6-4, 7-6 (7-2). Kuerten faces another powerful server in the second round -- ninth-seeded Mark Philippoussis of Australia.

"I served pretty well and did well on the important points," Kuerten said. "Right now, with six victories in a row it's feeling pretty nice."

In other second-round matches, Paradorn Srichaphan of Thailand scored a 7-6 (7-4), 6-3 victory over Karol Beck of Slovakia. The eighth-seeded Paradorn, a semifinalist last year, will next play Morocco's Hicham Arazi.

Arazi won when countryman and 12th-seeded Younes El Aynaoui quit with a heel injury while up 4-6, 6-3, 2-1. Robredo, seeded 16th, downed Gaston Gaudio of Argentina 7-5, 6-3.

Chile's Nicolas Massu, seeded 10th, labored to a 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 win over former French Open champion Albert Costa.

Spain's Feliciano Lopez, Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty and Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman also advanced.

The Paris Masters is crucial for the ATP Champions Race, where players collect points to qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup -- a season-ending tournament featuring the year's best eight players.

Paradorn, 11th in the Champions Race, must win the Paris Masters to secure the last spot in next month's Masters Cup in Houston.

"It would be really nice to have an Asian player in Houston for the Masters Cup," Paradorn said. "If it happens it's great for Asian tennis."

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