Ancic Eliminated, Blake and Haas Race at Paris

Ancic need the win to pass No. 8 James Blake for the final spot in the Tennis Masters Cup in Shangai, but just fell short.

"I was playing against a much better guy today," Ancic told the AP. "It's hard when you're dealing with Nikolay in the form he is. I have to be a man and say 'Well done.'"

The loss leaves the door open for German Tommy Haas, who kept his slim Shanghai hopes alive with a 7-6(1), 3-6, 6-3 win over three-time Paris champion Marat Safin.

To qualify and move ahead of Blake, Haas must win the Paris title, otherwise the American will assume the final berth.

The tenth-seeded Haas, who has captured three ATP titles this year at Delray Beach (d. Malisse), Memphis (d. Soderling) and Los Angeles (d. Tursunov) this season, will look to extend his run at the final ATP Masters Series event of 2006 against Slovak Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty.

In a hard-hitting slugfest Hrbaty upset defending champion Tomas Berdych 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. The win puts Hrbaty in his first Masters semifinal since Monte Carlo in 2000, and ends Berdych's season.

Also Friday, sixth-seeded Tommy Robredo advanced to his third Masters semifinal of the season following a 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 6-4 win over Finn Jarkko Nieminen.

Robredo will play Davydenko -- the player he beat for the Bastad title in July -- in the semifinals.

Davydenko has four titles on the season, and his 65 match wins is second only to top-ranked Roger Federer's 87 victories.