America's James Blake struck the first blow in what will be a tense, last-chance battle to reach the Masters Cup when he made the Paris Masters third round.

Seventh seed Blake saw off gutsy Frenchman Arnaud Clement 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 to reinforce his bid for a place in the elite eight-man field in Shanghai.

World number one Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick, who all skipped the Paris event, have already booked their places in the China showpiece as has Nikolay Davydenko, the top-ranked player here.

Blake came into Paris in seventh place in the race just behind David Nalbandian, another absentee from the French capital.

His win now puts the pressure back on Shanghai rivals Fernando Gonzalez and Tommy Robredo both of whom open their Paris campaigns later in the day.

France's Paul-Henri Mathieu won a marathon second round clash against Novak Djokovic leaving the beaten Serbian teenager to regret his decision to enter the court sporting a Zorro-style face mask.

Mathieu clinched a third round match against either compatriot Sebastien Grosjean or Spanish sixth seed Tommy Robredo with his 7-6 (13/11), 7-6 (7/4) win.

Nineteen-year-old Djokovic, the 12th seed, had come into the tournament enjoying the best season of his career with two titles in 2006 having pushed his ranking up to 16 in the world.

With his confidence on a high, he strolled on to centre court wearing the black Zorro mask, associated with the fictional Mexican hero, and he had plenty of opportunities to back up that self-belief.

But the 24-year-old Mathieu bravely saved six set points in the first set tiebreaker and two more in the 10th game of the second set before wrapping up victory with his 13th ace after 2hr 40min on court.

One of those set points in the tiebreaker was saved when Mathieu successfully appealed a forehand, that had been called out, under the Hawk-Eye instant replay.

"I had a feeling the shot was good, that it was in," said Mathieu. "That's why I challenged it."

Defending champion Tomas Berdych moved into the third round with a 6-7 (4/7), 6-4, 6-2 win over Belgium's Olivier Rochus.

The eighth-seeded Czech, who had never beaten the pint-sized Rochus in two previous meetings, now meets America's Robby Ginepri.

"It was a tough match because I had already lost twice to Olivier," said the 21-year-old Berdych. "So I'm happy that I made it through."

Unheralded Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili, who was handed a place in the second round when Federer pulled out, gratefully accepted his opportunity.

The 21-year-old, who had won only five matches on the tour in 2006 and had originally lost in qualifying, beat Sweden's former Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson 7-6 (7/3), 4-6, 6-3.

He now faces Finnish 14th seed Jarkko Nieminen who cruised past Italian qualifier Daniele Bracciali 6-3, 6-4.

German 10th seed Tommy Haas also reached the third round with a 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/2) win over Michael Llodra.

(AFP November 2, 2006)