By Patrick Vignal

World number five Nikolay Davydenko humbled Spain's Tommy Robredo 6-3, 5-7, 6-2 on Saturday to reach the final of the Paris Masters on Saturday. The balding Russian, seeded fourth in the indoor event, will meet Slovakia's Dominik Hrbaty in the final.

Hrbaty went through when German Tommy Haas retired in their semi-final - and with it dropped out of the Masters Cup race. The Slovak was leading 6-4, 1-0 when Haas, who needed to win the title here to qualify for the year-end event, withdrew with gastro-enteritis. "I started throwing up in the morning and I feel like doing it again right now," said Haas. "It must be a virus. It's bad luck. I was playing really well."

Davydenko, the highest-ranked player in the field following a string of withdrawals, broke Robredo with a forehand winner in the fifth game before taking the first set. But although he captured sixth-seed Robredo's serve again with a fierce smash in the fourth game of the second set, the gritty Spaniard broke back immediately.

However, another break enabled Robredo to serve for the set, which he wrapped up with a service winner. Davydenko, who is chasing his fifth title of the year, regained control in the third and opened up a 3-0 lead to set up victory.