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Two down, three to go! Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Andy Murray of Great Britain passed their respective third round tests on Thursday, November 3, 2016 at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris . These two tennis giants are battling for the coveted year-end number one spot.

Djokovic, who had an easy win in his second round match (they both had first round byes), today struggled against Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria. He was forced to take a medical timeout due to a slip. The Bulgarian won the first set but Djokovic came back to win the next two sets, taking the match 4-6, 6-2, 6-3.

Novak’s next opponent is 2014 US Open winner Marin Cilic of Croatia. On paper, Novak has an overwhelming advantage over Cilic as he leads their head-to-head 14-0. However, Cilic is on a winning streak, coming off a Swiss Indoor win in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday.

Murray, who survived a nasty scare in his second round match presented by Fernando Verdasco of Spain, had a routine match today. He defeated Lucas Pouille of France. Murray won 6-3, 6-0.

Murray awaits the winner of Gilles Simon and Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic. Murray has a winning record against both of them. He is 9-6 in his head-to-head against Berdych, and 16-2 against Simon.

PARIS (AP) Marin Cilic ended a three-match losing streak against David Goffin and earned a spot at the ATP finals.

The former U.S. Open champion converted his sixth match point Thursday to beat Goffin 6-3, 7-6 (9) at the Paris Masters, giving him a spot in the quarterfinals and one of the remaining two berths at the season-ending tournament in London.

Goffin had won their three previous encounters, all of them this year. But Cilic was better Thursday on crucial points, often using his big serve to lift himself out of trouble.

The ninth-seeded Croat raised his arms in triumph and let out a big scream after Goffin shanked a forehand to end it.

Cilic will next face either top-ranked Novak Djokovic or Grigor Dimitrov.

PARIS (AP) — If Andy Murray is to take Novak Djokovic’s No. 1 ranking at the Paris Masters this week, he must play significantly better than he did in a scrappy win against Fernando Verdasco in the second round on Wednesday.

Murray becomes No. 1 if he wins the tournament and Djokovic – winner for the past three years – does not reach the final.

Djokovic began his quest for a fourth straight Paris Masters title by easing past Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller 6-3, 6-4.

Murray is full of confidence after three straight tournament wins, but needed to scrap hard to beat Verdasco 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5.

Murray’s 12th win in 13 career matches against the Spaniard was unconvincing and he needed 2 ½ hours to prevail.

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Juan Martin Del Potro will lead Argentina’s team for the Davis Cup final against Croatia later this month in Zagreb.

Argentina captain Daniel Orsanic named Del Potro on Wednesday along with Federico Delbonis, Guido Pella and Leonardo Mayer. It’s the same team that beat Britain in the semifinals.

Orsanic says “picking the team was again difficult, but we went with players who have delivered.”

Argentina will be playing its fifth Davis Cup final – and it has lost the previous four in 1981, 2006, 2008 and 2011.

Croatia, which won the Davis Cup in 2005, has yet to name its team for the Nov. 25-27 match, but seems sure to contain Marin Cilic and Ivo Karlovic.

PARIS (AP) — Novak Djokovic began his quest for a fourth straight Paris Masters title with a 6-3, 6-4 win against Gilles Muller of Luxembourg in the second round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday.

The top-ranked Serb broke Muller’s serve once in each set and sealed victory with an ace.

Celebrating his win, Djokovic tapped his hand against his heart and made a throwing gesture to all four sides of the court as if to share the moment with the crowd.

Djokovic has a special bond with Paris, having won this tournament four times overall and having also clinched the French Open in June to complete his haul of all four majors.

“It’s a moment of happiness. It’s a real pleasure to come back to Paris after what I did at Roland Garros this year,” Djokovic said. “In the last few years I’ve played my best tennis here. It’s the end of the season and you have to find that last bit of energy.”

PARIS (AP) France captain Amelie Mauresmo is keeping faith in the same players for the Fed Cup final against the two-time defending champion Czech Republic next week.

Maursemo named Caroline Garcia, Kristina Mladenovic, Alize Cornet, and Pauline Parmentier to face the Czechs at home in Strasbourg on Nov. 12-13.

The same quartet defeated the Netherlands in the semifinals.

The Czechs are bidding for a fifth title in six years, while France is playing its first final since 2005.

Mladenovic and Garcia were cleared to play after the French Tennis Federation lifted their ban in September. The pair was provisionally suspended for ”damaging” the federation’s image at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics, where the players criticized the FTT over a clothing mix-up after their defeat in the first round of the doubles.