PARIS, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- Spain's Tommy Robredo and Nikolay Davydenko of Russia Friday advanced to the semifinals at the Paribas Masters tennis tournament in Paris.
In Friday's quarterfinals, Robredo, who is the sixth seed, beat No. 14 Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7-4), 6-4. The fourth-seeded Davydenko was a 6-3, 6-3, winner over No. 9 Mario Ancic of Croatia.
Ancic, who won the St. Petersburg Open in Russia last week, needed a victory in Paris to qualify for the upcoming Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai.
The loss ended his 2006 season.
Both Davydenko and Robredo have qualified for the season-ending ATP Tour tournament. They will meet in one of Saturday's semis.
Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty beat eighth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, 6-4, 1-6, 6-2. And 10th-seeded Tommy Haas of Germany downed unseeded Marat Safin, 7-6 (7-1), 3-6, 6-3.
The other semi pits Haas against Hrbaty.
