It was a busy day in the intense Emirates ATP Race To London at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday. And while one contender maintained his chances of catching Pablo Carreno Busta for the final qualifying spot in the Nitto ATP Finals, two other players' hopes came to an end.
Juan Martin del Potro continued his massive surge after beginning the US Open ranked 47th in the Race. The Stockholm winner and Basel finalist cruised past Joao Sousa, 6-2, 6-2, in 62 minutes to move to 19-4 since the start of the year's final Grand Slam.
The Argentine can overtake Carreno Busta in the Race standings with a semi-final showing in Paris, and can guarantee his spot in London by winning the tournament.
Del Potro set the tone by winning 16 of the first 20 points in the match, breaking twice right at the outset to earn momentum that he would never concede to his fellow right-hander. Del Potro benefits from the biggest upset of the tournament thus far, as Robin Haase defeated fourth seed Alexander Zverev, who was projected to be Del Potro's next opponent, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the second round.
Del Potro owns a 3-0 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the Dutchman, and has won their past six sets. Del Potro defeated Haase earlier this year in Miami, 6-2, 6-4, dropping just four points on his first serve. If Del Potro can defeat Haase, he is projected to play sixth seed Grigor Dimitrov, who he beat for the Stockholm title, in the quarter-finals.
And while the Argentine moved on, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga suffered a crushing defeat. Julien Benneteau ousted his fellow Frenchman and the 2008 Paris champion, 2-6, 7-6(4), 6-2, to end Tsonga's hopes of reaching a third Nitto ATP Finals appearance.
Just days after finishing runner-up in Vienna and less than two weeks after capturing the title in Antwerp, it appeared that the energetic right-hander was poised to make a deep run in Paris, giving himself a chance to qualify for London for the first time since 2012. But Benneteau overcame two deuces at 5-6 in the second set and a 2-4 deficit in the second-set tie-break to claim the victory.
Tsonga was not the only one to lose their London hopes Wednesday, as Kevin Anderson saw his dreams of qualifying for the first time come to an end. The in-form Fernando Verdasco dashed his hopes with a 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 win in two hours, 34 minutes.
The South African has been eliminated from the Race, but with no points to defend until the 2018 BNP Paribas Open, he will have a chance to match and perhaps surpass his career-high ranking of No. 10 (2015) in the early stages of next season.
Verdasco, who advanced to his first ATP World Tour semi-final since July (Bastad) two weeks ago in Stockholm, once again used his powerful left-handed forehand to impress the French fans. In the deciding set, Verdasco saved a break point at both 1-2 and 2-3 before breaking Anderson at love at 5-5 to give himself the advantage he needed.
The Spaniard beat Anderson for the second time in as many tournaments, after also eliminating him in the Stockholm quarter-finals to set up a third-round clash against fifth seed Dominic Thiem, who he beat in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup two years ago at Wimbledon.
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