Mario Ancic

 Andy Roddick and Juan Martin Del Potro were firmly on track for a Masters Cup berth as they strolled into the third round of the Paris Masters on Tuesday.

American Roddick, sixth in the ATP Race, beat Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-3 6-4 while Argentine Del Potro, who is seventh, thrashed Croatian Mario Ancic 6-0 6-4.

 The hope of qualifying for next month's Masters Cup has given Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro the boost he needed at the end of a testing season, he said on Tuesday.

The 20-year-old broke into the top 10 following ATP titles in Stuttgart, Kitzbuehel, Los Angeles and Washington, and is on course for one of the three remaining spots for the season-ending tournament in Shanghai.

Two Croatian stars, fifth-seeded Marin Cilic and seventh-seeded Mario Ancic, were upset Tuesday in the first round of the St. Petersburg Open.

Jeremy Chardy of France beat Ancic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, and Kazakh qualifier Mikhail Kukushkin saved two match points before ousting Cilic 7-6 (4), 4-6, 7-6 (6).

Cilic, ranked No. 23, had two match points at 6-4 in the tiebreaker, but the 158th-ranked Kukushkin won four consecutive points for his first career victory over a seeded player in an ATP event. Cilic had 19 aces to Kukushkin’s 10.

Andy Murray is finishing the year with a flourish.

Having already clinched a spot at the Tennis Masters Cup for the first time, the 21-year-old Murray heads to Russia as the top seed at the $1 million St. Petersburg Open, which got under Monday.

The Scot is the defending champion here, defeating Spain’s Fernando Verdasco in the final here last year.

Andy Murray returns to ATP Tour action at the Madrid Masters this week feeling refreshed from his recent break - but the world number four knows he will be afforded little time to find his rhythm again.

Murray has been enjoying some well-earned time off since representing Great Britain in their Davis Cup clash against Austria three weeks ago, and his appearance in the Spanish capital this week will be his first Tour event since reaching the US Open final.

David Nalbandian steamrolled into the quarterfinals of the Stockholm Open on Thursday.

The top-seeded Argentine needed just 57 minutes to dispatch of Swedish wild card Joachim Johansson, 6-3, 6-2, in one of six second-round matches slated at the hardcourt event.

Nalbandian, who crushed American Bobby Reynolds, 6-1, 6-1, in the opening round, remains a strong favorite here considering he is the only top-30 player in the field.

Ernest Gulbis used his powerful serve to upset eighth-seeded Mario Ancic of Croatia, 7-6 (7-3), 6-4, on Monday in the first round of the $535,000 Open de Moselle.

The 20-year-old Latvian overcame eight double-faults by smashing 11 aces and converting 3-of-7 break-point chances.

Gulbis, who is still searching for his first career singles titles, won 84 percent (37-of-44) of his first-serve points at the greenset, hardcourt event.

Carlos Moya beat Albert Montanes 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 Monday in the first round of the Open de Moselle in an indoor match between Spaniards.

Moya, once ranked No. 1, played in his second final of the year last month in Romania. He improved his record against Montanes to 2-1.

The only seed playing, No. 8 Mario Ancic of Croatia, was upset by French Open quarterfinalist Ernests Gulbis of Latvia 7-6 (3), 6-4. Gulbis will next face Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who defeated French wild card Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (5), 7-5.

 Mario Ancic withdrew from the Beijing Olympics on Wednesday, and Canadian players Frank Dancevic and Frederic Niemeyer were added to the men's draw.

Niemeyer replaced the 25th-ranked Ancic, while Dancevic replaced Denis Gremelmayr of Germany.

Rainer Schuettler of Germany, who got his spot in Beijing by winning an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, replaced Dudi Sela of Israel in the draw.

Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who withdrew last week, was replaced by Jiri Vanek of the Czech Republic.