Davydenko earns fifth spot

The U.S. Open semi-finalist secured his place despite a second-round exit after an injury scare at his home tournament in St. Petersburg last week.

Davydenko will join Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick at the season-ending championship from November 12-19.

Seven players are left vying for the three remaining positions to fill the eight-man field at the Qi Zhong Stadium.

David Nalbandian, James Blake and Tommy Robredo hold on to the sixth, seventh, and eighth places on INDESIT ATP 2006 Race standings, with Fernando Gonzalez and Mario Ancic nipping at their heels.

Chile's Gonzalez, who this week joined Federer and Nadal as only the third player this season to make three consecutive ATP finals, has the best chance of qualifying at only eight points behind Robredo's 410 and nine points behind Blake's 411.

"I have a good chance to qualify for Shanghai, which I don't want to miss," said Gonzalez on the eve of Paris Masters. "It would be great to qualify for the Masters Cup."

In order to qualify automatically Gonzalez has to do better than Blake or Robredo and reach the quarter-finals.

Ancic, who won the St Petersburg Open this weekend, has a more difficult road at 387 points, though he could stand in Gonzalez' way with the two drawn to meet in the round of 16 in Paris.

"I am still in the race to qualify for Shanghai's Masters Cup, and next week it is all going to be decided," the Croatian No. 2 said. "I am sure it will be an exciting week."

If Ancic gets past Gonzalez, he then needs to at least reach the semi-finals and hope that Robredo can't advance past the second round forcing a points tie at 417, which would be decided by how the two players have done in the year's Grand Slam and Masters events.

Haas and Berdych also stand a long-shot of qualifying, with both needing to win the tournament.

Though he won the Paris Masters last year, Berdych has the least hope of earning a Shanghai berth, needing to reclaim his Paris title and watch as either Blake or Robredo pull outs of the tournament without finishing a match.

Marcos Baghdatis is 11th in the rankings, ahead of Haas and Berdych, but is not playing for the rest of the year.

In sixth position Nalbandian, the reigning Masters Cup champion, has virtually clinched his own place at only six points behind Davydenko.