Tsonga, Djokovic reach quarterfinals in Paris

Defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga needed only 52 minutes to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters, easily beating Gilles Simon of France 6-2, 6-3 Thursday.

The eight-seeded Tsonga, who won three titles this season and can still qualify for the eight-man ATP World Tour Finals later this month, never faced a break point and broke his opponent's serve three times.

Tsonga, who beat three top-10 opponents last year on his way to the title in Paris, will next face either second-seeded Rafael Nadal or 14th-seeded Tommy Robredo.

Simon, who injured his right knee in a two-hour, three-set match against Ivan Ljubicic in the previous round, was hampered from the start by the wound and struggled to return Tsonga's powerful serves.

Tsonga, who had 13th aces, will earn a place for the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London if he defends his title without facing seventh-seeded Fernando Verdasco in the final.

Ninth-seeded Robin Soderling also has slim hopes of qualifying for the prestigious event following his victory over former champion Nikolay Davydenko of Russia 6-3, 3-6, 6-4.

Soderling's next opponent will be third-seeded Novak Djokovic, who defeated French qualifier Arnaud Clement 6-2, 6-2.

"I was moving better (than yesterday)," Djokovic said. "I was using the chances to go to the net and to make some winners when they have been given to me. And I gained the control of the match in the early stages of the first set."

Soderling needs to at least reach the final to have a chance of qualifying. The sixth-seeded Davydenko, who won in Paris in 2006, could have secured one of the two spots still up for grabs with a win but can still qualify depending on his rivals' results.

Soderling, who reached his second quarterfinal in Paris, broke Davydenko in the fourth game of the first set. Davydenko called for the trainer while trailing 5-2 and was given a pill but was unable to prevent his Swedish opponent from closing out the set with a service winner on his first set point.

Davydenko broke Soderling to love with a backhand return winner down the line to lead 2-0. The 28-year-old Russian then saved a break point with a forehand volley at 30-40 in the seventh game and leveled with a cross-court backhand volley that Soderling was unable to chase down.

At 5-4 to Soderling in the decider, Davydenko threw his racket in anger after sending a backhand wide that gave his opponent two match points. The 25-year-old Swede converted the first one when Davydenko missed another backhand.

Djokovic, coming off a win over top-ranked Roger Federer in the Swiss Indoors final last week, reached the quarterfinals for the first time after winning 80 percent of the points played on his first serve. Clement saved two match points before Djokovic took the match when his opponent put a forehand into the net.

"I want to do well here," Djokovic said. "I know it's a very important tournament and I just hope to maintain the high level of performance I had in the last two months."

Nadal, who saved five match points to reach the third round, will face Robredo later Thursday.