American Andy Roddick secured the eighth and final place for the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday, but world No. 3 Novak Djokovic suffered a setback in his preparations for the season-ending event.Roddick qualified for the November 21-28 tournament in London after ending Jurgen Melzer's hopes by defeating Ernests Gulbis at the Paris Masters -- and then seeing closest rival Fernando Verdasco lose.
Roddick, seeded eighth for the French event, won 6-3 7-6 (10-8) besides his Latvian opponent, then his place for the finals was secured for an eighth straight year when Verdasco lost an epic third-round tussle with home player Gael Monfils.
The Spanish sixth seed went down 6-7 (4-7) 7-6 (7-2) 7-5 to the French No. 12, meaning that his compatriot David Ferrer and Tomas Berdych also secured places in London in spite of losing on Thursday.
