Paris - Swede Robin Soderling and holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga both stayed in the long-odds chase for one of two remaining spots in the season-ending ATP championships with victories Thursday into the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.

Eight seed Tsonga is the last of five men with any numerical chance of claiming a position in the eight-man wrap-up in London from November 22.

He kept his slender chances alive with a defeat of compatriot and 11th seed Gilles Simon 6-2, 6-3.

Soderling stands behind favourites Nikolay Davydenko (provisional seventh) and Spain's Fernando Verdasco (eighth) in the chase, with the Swede defeating Davydenko 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in their third-round clash.

The Russian is well-placed to go through by the time the final event of the regular season ends on Sunday.

But he missed the opportunity to clinch it by winning the match, which took two hours and featured 11 aces from the Russian who claimed the Shanghai Masters title a month ago.

Davydenko now holds 3,720 points to the 3,010 of Soderling, also in the final sprint is Chile's Fernando Gonzalez, playing to stay alive against Marin Cilic.

Third Novak Djokovic, already into the year-end event, beat Arnaud Clement of France 6-2, 6-2 to make his top showing at Bercy after never going past the third round at the Bercy hall.

Clement, at 31 the oldest player left in the draw, saved two match points netting a forehand. (dpa)