Top seed Andy Roddick narrowly survived his opening encounter against Taylor Dent at the Paris Masters. Roddick held on despite facing 11 break points before fellow American Dent gave up a 6-4 6-7 (2-7) 7-5 loss with a double fault.
Robby Ginepri battled his way past Fernando Verdasco despite missing a match point in the second set, edging to a 6-3 6-7 (7-9) 6-3 win.
Seeds David Nalbandian and Fernando Gonzalez were surprise losers.
Nalbandian, seeded 5th, lost 6-4 6-3 to Tommy Haas, and 11th seed Gonzalez went down 6-3 3-6 7-6 (7-4) to Paul-Henri Mathieu.
Gaston Gaudio, Thomas Johansson and Tommy Robredo made the last 16.
Ginepri will take on Gaudio in the third round after the Argentine seventh seed beat Frenchman Fabrice Santoro 6-4 7-5.
 |  Unless your name is Federer or Nadal, you can't start thinking about the title when you have only just made the round of 16 |
Robredo eased past France's Arnaud Clement 7-5 6-2, while fellow Spaniard and 10th seed David Ferrer beat Max Mirnyi of Belarus 6-4 6-4.
Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 13th seed, defeated Switzerland's Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6 (7-4) 7-6 (7-4).
Roddick will next face 16th seed Dominik Hrbaty, who beat Jean-Rene Lisnard 6-3 6-3.
"I feel I was a little lucky," admitted Roddick after his win over Dent.
"Taylor played the better match and I had to wait for the chances to come to me.
"The ball stays low on this surface which makes it tough to attack.
"He had a lot of looks out there and I had no rhythm. I think I'm fortunate to get through."
And although the draw has been decimated by the withdrawals of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt, among others, the American is not yet thinking about winning the tournament.
"Unless your name is Federer or Nadal, you can't start thinking about the title when you have only just made the round of 16," he said.
"My goal is just to keep playing well and build up some momentum going into the Masters Cup in Shanghai."
MMIX
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