Paris – Argentine David Nalbandian, the 2007 champion, defeated Spain's Marcel Granollers 6-3, 6-1 on Tuesday to move into a second-round match with Scot Andy Murray at the Paris Masters.
Nalbandian, finally regaining equilibrium after a patchy comeback to form following 2009 hip surgery, defeated Murray in a 2008 quarter-final here on the way into a second consecutive final at the Bercy arena.
He eventually lost that title match to French hero Jo-Wilfried Tsonga a year after defeating Rafael Nadal for the indoor title.
Former number three Nalbandian cut short the week for Granollers, losing finalist to compatriot David Ferrer in the weekend Valencia finals to stand 3-0 in the series.
Qualifying for the remaining places in the eight-man World Tour Finals began to take shape as the cast of candidates for one of the last three spots narrowed.
Latvian Ernests Gulbis advanced at the expense of ninth seed Mikhail Youzhny 6-4, 3-0 when the Russian's back pains that had kept him off court last week returned.
Youzhny, winner of two ATP titles this season and a losing finalist last month in St Petersburg, had stood provisional tenth in the race to the year-ender in London from November 21.
But according to ATP calculations, he would have had to reach the final in order to have had a qualifying chance.
Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych, next in the queue for London qualifying, was playing a second-round match after a bye, facing Frenchman Florent Serra.
Spanish sixth seed Fernando Verdasco beat France's Arnaud Clement 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 in their second round tie.
Spain's Ferrer and provisional eighth Andy Roddick were due for Wednesday starts at the final event of the regular season.
In first-round play, Argentine Juan Monaco joined compatriot Nalbandian in the second round, defeating Sam Querrey 7-6 (9-7), 6-2 to leave the American 1-3 at Bercy. – Sapa-AFP