Paris, Oct 31: Paradorn saw his hopes of making the Masters Cup in Houston crushed when he lost to qualifier Arazi. More the Thai, who had to have his left foot and ankle bandaged at the start of the second set, had needed to win here this week to dislodge David Nalbandian from the eighth and final qualifying spot for next month's tournament.
Being condemned to play on court one at the Bercy Arena, which doubles up as an ice skating rink, did nothing to help Paradorn's normal fluid game and he never settled in the dingy surroundings.
"I don't think his ankle bothered him. He had problems with the way he was feeling for his game," said Arazi after his 76-minute win. "He had too many unforced errors and I am very surprised I won the match."
Earlier, Germany's Rainer Schuettler and Andrei Pavel of Romania reached the quarter-finals in contrasting styles.
Schuettler, the fifth seed, defeated Chile's Nicolas Massu 6-4 7-5 while Pavel made it through without needing to lift a raquet as his scheduled third round opponent, Argentina's fourth seed Guillermo Coria, pulled out of the tournament because of a fever.



Schuettler and Pavel will now meet in tonight's last eight.


Bureau Report