Argentina’s Guillermo Canas returns a shot to his compatriot Jose Acasuso during their first round match at the Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel, yesterday. (REUTERS)

BASeL, Switzerland • Tomas Berdych and Guillermo Canas kept their respective bids alive for possible places in next month’s Masters Cup with wins into the second round at the Swiss Indoors yesterday.

Fifth seed Czech Berdych came through a battle with Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, earning a 7-6 (7-4), 3-6, 6-3 victory.

Argentine sixth seed Canas, who announced his return to tennis after completing a doping ban last September by beating Roger Federer twice this spring, beat compatriot Jose Acasuso 6-4, 6-3 to stay in the chase on provisional 15th for the season-ending November event in China.

Berdych, number 12 in the race, stands 11 points from the eighth-place cutoff for the year-ender, which begins November 11.

But the constantly moving dynamic, with up to 20 men vying for the last three available places in the all-star field, changes with completion of almost every match at three ATP tournaments across Europe this week.

Final slots are invariably decided at the final event of the season, next week’s Paris Masters.

Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Nikloay Davydenko and Andy Roddick have already qualified.

Berdych is aiming for a return to the ranking top ten after having had a taste of the upper echelon this season.

The number 13 reached autumn semi-finals indoors at Bangkok and Tokyo but has been unable to make much progress in the race to Shanghai.

Berdych levelled his record with Lopez at two wins apiece.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Francesca Schiavone booked a second-round clash against top seed Anna Chakvetadze at the Linz Open yesterday.

She fought off a set point before prevailing 7-6 6-3 over Slovenia’s Katarina Srebotnik and now faces the top-ranked Russian for a place in the quarter-finals.

Chakvetadze, 20, was confirmed by the WTA as the latest to join the eight-player field for the season-ending Championships in Madrid, alongside Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic and Serena Williams.

She rose to a career-high number five earlier this year, but since reaching the semi-finals of the US Open she has just one win from her last three tournaments.

Second-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia will play Argentina’s Gisela Dulko, who defeated Bosnian qualifier Sandra Martinovic 6-3, 6-3.

Eighth seed Sybille Bammer, playing in her home town, disappointed her supporters when she served for the match against Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama but was defeated 2-6, 7-6, 6-0.

Swiss sixth seed Patty Schnyder enjoyed a comfortable 6-4, 6-3 win over French qualifier Aravane Rezai.