Roddick Edges Dent for 3rd Round Berth at ATP Paris

Top-seeded Andy Roddick dodged a serve-and-volley bullet Wednesday at the Masters Series-Paris, defeating unseeded fellow American Taylor Dent 6-4, 6-7(2), 7-5 to advance into the third round in a match he admitted Dent should have taken.

"He kind of gave it to me," said Roddick, who fought off all 11 break points he faced. "He had a lot of looks there in the third set. I didn't really have a whole lot of rhythm going. I think I'm fortunate to get through."

Winners among those still vying for the final spots at the year-ending Masters Cup were (7) Gaston Gaudio (d. (WC) Santoro), (9) Thomas Johansson (d. (Q) Vliegen), and (10) Dave Ferrer (d. Mirnyi).

Johansson next faces a Masters Cup elimination meeting against Ivan Ljubicic, who is also in the Shanghai hunt. Gaudio must win Paris to qualify for Shanghai, or reach the final with neither Ljubicic or David Nalbandian winning the title. Ferrer must also win out to qualify.

Other seeded winners were (12) Robby Ginepri (d. Verdasco in three), (13) Juan Carlos Ferrero (d. (LL) Wawrinka in two tiebreaks), (14) Tommy Robredo (d. (WC) Clement), and (16) Dominik Hrbaty (d. (LL) Lisnard).

French fans had one highlight on the day when unseeded Paul-Henri Mathieu edged (11) Fernando Gonzalez 7-6 in the third, while German Tommy Haas ousted (5) David Nalbandian in straight sets, putting both players' Masters Cup chances on ice for the year unless more injury pull-outs occur.

In the lone doubles upset Wednesday, Frenchmen Carraz/Dupuis shocked (1) Bjorkman/Mirnyi in three sets.

Scheduled for Thursday in Paris are (Q) Tursunov vs. (3) Davydenko in an all-Russian, (13) Ferrero vs. Berdych, (9) T.Johansson vs. (6) Ljubicic, (8) Stepanek vs. Mathieu, (1) Roddick vs. (16) Hrbaty, (7) Gaudio vs. (12) Ginepri, (Q) Djokovic vs. (14) Robredo, and (10) Ferrer vs. Haas.