Tsonga, Davydenko win at Paribas Masters

PARIS, Nov. 10 (UPI) -- Defending Paribas Masters champ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga was a second-round winner Tuesday in the 2009 event in Paris.

France's Tsonga, the No. 8 seed, had little trouble with Spaniard Albert Montanes 6-1, 7-5, while another defending champ, sixth-seeded Nikolay Davydenko, also advanced Tuesday, defeating German Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-1 at Palais Omnisports.

The final Masters tournament of the season will now see Tsonga going up against fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon, No. 11, on Thursday. Simon advanced by struggling past tenacious Croat Ivan Ljubicic, 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 (7-4).

Elsewhere in the second round, seventh-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco staged a comeback to defeat pesky Italian Andreas Seppi 6-7 (3-7), 6-4, 6-4.

Some of the world's top players will swing into action when the second-round concludes with 12 matches on Wednesday, including No. 1 Roger Federer taking on Julien Benneteau, while Rafael Nadal will challenge fellow Spaniard Almagro and Andy Murray will face American James Blake.