Paris, Nov 14 (DPA) Revitalised Rafael Nadal ended the repeat title dream of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Friday 7-5, 7-5 in a move to the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters.
Second seed Nadal called his victory over the French defending champion his best in some months after starting the event with a pair of struggling wins.
"It was a very important victory for me," said the Spaniard who next plays Novak Djokovic for the 20th time in his career in their semi-final. "It was probably the first big victory after the comeback from injury (October). So I'm very happy for that.
"I started the tournament playing almost terrible, and right now I'm in the semi-finals. That's a very positive thing. I improved a little bit every day," Nadal added.
Hopes of a repeat title stayed alive as Gael Monfils beat Croatian 12th seed Marin Cilic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to face Czech Radek Stepanek, who advanced 4-0 when US Open champion Juan Del Potro retired after 27 minutes on court.
Spain's Fernando Verdasco earned the last spot in the eight-man ATP season finals through Nadal's win.
Swede Robin Soderling was dealt out of a chance at the World Tour Finals in London starting a week from Sunday after losing to Djokovic 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.
Verdasco joins Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray, Del Potro, Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko in the year-end field.
The qualifying scenario is complicated by reports from the US that Andy Roddick, sixth qualifier, might still be unfit for the finals after injuring a knee last month in China.
French Open finalist Soderling missed the chance to add 180 points to his total of 3,010 as he lost to Djokovic. He finished next in the queue behind Verdasco, with Tsonga on tenth.
Djokovic added more lustre to his standout season record, amassing a 74-18 match record, the most wins of any player this season. He also leads the table on nine final appearances, converting a third of that number into 2009 titles.
"If I could think of something I could have done this year better, that would be bigger tournaments and couple of titles in 1,000 events," said the Serb. "I haven't done the best job in Grand Slams.
"But I had a very consistent season. In all the smaller tournaments, I have been winning and reaching the late stages.
"I've been playing more than 90 matches this year, and now two weeks in a row. Suddenly my metabolism is getting a little bit tired. It's all normal. It's all natural."