Soderling defeats Monfils to win Paris Masters

Third seed Roger Federer will meet in-form Novak Djokovic for a place in the French Open final after beating home favourite Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-3, 7-6 (7/3) in a low-quality quarter-final match on Tuesday.The 16-time Grand Slam winner, who lost in the last eight last year following four straight final appearances, faces Djokovic after the second seed's scheduled quarter-final opponent, Italy's Fabio Fognini, withdrew through injury."He (Monfils) is a superb player, so I knew the danger of this quarter-final," said Federer after his sixth career victory over Monfils.

Novak Djokovic of Serbia secured back-to-back ATP titles on Sunday by edging battling Frenchman Gael Monfils 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (7/3) in a thrilling Paris Masters final.The win was the first for Djokovic in the Masters Series this year following four runner-up finishes and it will send him into the season-ending ATP Tour World Finals in London from November 22-29 as the favourite.But it remains to be seen just how much his efforts here this week, and throughout the year, have taken out of him after he completed a tour-leading 94th match of the season.

Nikolay Davydenko is prepared for a battle royale after setting up a semi-final with Swede Robin Soderling as the top three seeds reached the weekend final four at the Rotterdam Open on Friday.Davydenko, seeded second, rolled Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2 while Soderling, the tournament number three, was in equally devastating touch as he crushed Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-0, 6-1 in a brief 64 minutes.Fourth seed Gael Monfils was bidding to make it a sweep at the top after number one Novak Djokovic went through a day earlier due to a walkover.

Nikolay Davydenko is prepared for a battle royale after setting up a semi-final with Swede Robin Soderling as the top three seeds reached the weekend final four at the Rotterdam Open on Friday.Davydenko, seeded second, rolled Austrian Jurgen Melzer 6-3, 6-2 while Soderling, the tournament number three, was in equally devastating touch as he crushed Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-0, 6-1 in a brief 64 minutes.France's fourth seed Gael Monfils was bidding to make it a sweep at the top after number one Novak Djokovic went through a day earlier due to a walkover.

Sweden's Robin Soderling reached the fourth round at the Australian Open for the first time with a straight-sets victory over Jan Hernych of the Czech Republic.Fourth seed Soderling, a two-time French Open finalist, was always in control of his match on Hisense Arena on Saturday, winning 6-3, 6-1, 6-4 over the 241st-ranked Hernych in just under two hours.Soderling has a poor record at the Australian Open after only winning two matches in five previous visits, but victories this year have put him into the last 16 where he could face 2008 finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Sweden's two-time French Open finalist Robin Soderling won his third tournament of the year here on Sunday, beating unseeded Croat Marin Cilic 6-7 (10/8), 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the Marseille Open.Soderling, the top seed and world number four, had previously tasted success in Brisbane and Rotterdam."I have to congratulate Marin Cilic," said Soderling."He played very well and he was really impressive in the first set. He was very aggressive and played really quickly.

Swedish fourth seed Robin Soderling ended unseeded Frenchman Michael Llodra's Paris Masters fairytale in the semi-finals with an epic 6-7 (0/7), 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) win at the Bercy arena on Saturday.Soderling, a two-time French Open finalist, had to save three match points at 5-6 down in the third set, with Llodra notably netting a forehand when the Swede was at the net and the court was at his mercy.

French number two Gael Monfils has pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters with a left hand injury, organisers announced on Friday.Monfils, ranked 18th in the world, suffered the problem when he fell in a Davis Cup match against Germany's Philipp Kohlschreiber in March.Two other notable absentees from the tournament where Rafael Nadal is gunning for a sixth consecutive title are Juan Martin Del Potro and Robin Soderling.The Monte Carlo Masters starts on Monday.