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Rafael Nadal has opted to skip Paris next week for the second year in a row.  He wishes to focus his training on the year-end championship and Davis Cup.

Valencia

Sam Querrey’s biggest goal may be staying healthy.  Two years ago, he had a freak accident in Bangkok where he sat on a glass table that broke under his weight.  Luckily, he avoided severing any nerves which might have spelled the end of his career.  He had an excellent 2010, but got injured once again in 2011.  He’s been playing Challengers some, but it was only a matter of time for the American to reach the big time.

In Valencia, Querrey took out the erratic Gulbis in the first round only to meet the second seed, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  Tsonga recently won Vienna over del Potro, so he was on a streak.  Even so, Querrey won this match 76, 62.  Querrey will have to face a big man in the next round whether it be Kevin Anderson or Juan Martin del Potro.

Juan Monaco had an easy win over Fabio Fognini, 63 61.

Granollers and Cilic have split sets and they are in the third set.

Basel

Kei Nishikori continues to play well.  He beat Seppi 63, 76 and will face the winner of Kukushkin and James Blake.  Nishikori has a good chance to reach the semis of Basel where he’s likely to meet Djokovic.   Currently, Kukushkin leads Blake one set to none and a break (Blake just broke back to even the second set).

Florian Mayer had an easy win over Croatian vet, Ivan Ljubicic, 63 61.

Djokovic currently leads Lukas Kubot one set to none, up 6-1, 2-0 and appears to be heading to an easy win.