Nikolay Davydenko secured his place at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals despite a Paris Masters defeat by Robin Soderling, who kept alive his own chances of qualifying for the prestigious London event.
Davydenko went into this week's tournament in pole position to secure one of the remaining two spots at the O2 Arena later this month.
His 6-3 3-6 6-4 defeat by Swede Soderling in the third round on Thursday looked like condemning Davydenko to an anxious wait, but Fernando Verdasco's loss to Marin Cilic put the Russian through.
The Spaniard had looked shaky in his opening win over Andreas Seppi and, after a good start, he slumped to a 3-6 6-3 6-4 defeat against Cilic.
Verdasco must now hope neither Soderling nor Fernando Gonzalez reaches the final, while Jo-Wilfried Tsonga would snatch the eighth spot by successfully defending his title in the French capital.
Soderling continued his love affair with Paris, having beaten four-time defending champion Rafael Nadal on the way to reaching the French Open final in June.
The ninth seed, though, is attempting not to think about the prize more success in Bercy could bring.
Soderling told Sky Sports: "I try not to think about the long term because it will only make me nervous but, if I can have the chance to play in London, it will be a dream come true for me."
Regarding Thursday's match, he added: "I managed to serve very well, especially at the end of the match. At times I felt like I was playing against a wall today."
Soderling will face a tough challenge to extend his run, though, with in-form third seed Novak Djokovic up next in the quarter-finals.
The Serb beat Roger Federer in the final of the world No.1's home-town event in Basle last weekend and on Thursday demolished home favourite Arnaud Clement 6-2 6-2.
Djokovic had looked somewhat jaded in his second-round match against Juan Monaco on Wednesday but had no problems on Thursday and will hope to post his fifth successive victory against Soderling on Friday.
Tsonga also kept his London hopes alive with a 6-2 6-3 demolition of fellow Frenchman Gilles Simon.
The eighth seed qualified for the Tour Finals with victory in this event last year, and he remained on course for a repeat as he overpowered Simon.