Madrid wins for Federer, Paradorn, Grosjean

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By Kevin Fylan

MADRID (Reuters) - Swiss third seed Roger Federer maintained his challenge for the world number one ranking with a 6-3 7-6 victory over America's Mardy Fish in the third round of the Madrid Masters on Thursday.

Federer kept the pressure on Juan Carlos Ferrero and Andy Roddick, who currently occupy the top two spots in the ATP entry list, with a second straight-sets win of the week.

After losing the first set to a single break, Fish hit back to lead with a break in the second but could not hold his serve with the old balls at 4-2.

Federer, the Wimbledon champion, was never likely to give him another chance and he clinched victory with a single mini-break for a 7-4 tiebreak win.

Roddick faces Nicolas Massu of Chile later on Thursday, before local favourite Ferrero takes on Felix Mantilla in an all-Spanish clash.

The other main point of interest at the 2.45 million euros ($2.85 million) event in Madrid this week is the battle for the two remaining places in the Tennis Masters Cup in Houston at the end of the season.

Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean, in 11th place in the ATP Champions Race, and Thailand's Paradorn Srichaphan, in 13th, both improved their chances of reaching Houston with straightforward wins against American opposition on Thursday.

Grosjean, the number six seed, was far too strong for Vincent Spadea in a 6-3 6-2 success in the first singles match up on court number one.

Srichaphan also made short work of his American opponent, Jan-Michael Gambill.

Paradorn had too much accuracy for Gambill on the fast indoor court and broke the American in game 11 to edge ahead in the first set.

The seventh seed got an early break in the second and that was enough to take him to victory in one hour 19 minutes, with Gambill unable even to force a break point in the second set as he went down 7-5 6-4.

Carlos Moya, in seventh in the Champions Race, takes on fellow Spaniard Feliciano Lopez later on Thursday.

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