Kei Nishikori pulls out Paris Masters with right ankle injury; Simon reaches quarterfinals

PARIS – Kei Nishikori of Japan has pulled out of his third-round match against Gilles Simon at the Paris Masters because of a recurring right ankle injury.

The 15th-seeded Nishikori missed last week's Swiss Indoors with pain in his ankle, but beat Benoit Paire of France in the second round to set up Thursday's match with Simon.

Nishikori won the Japan Open in Tokyo last month for his second career title and picked up the injury soon after in the second round of the Shanghai Masters.

Simon will face either fifth-seeded Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic or Kevin Anderson of South Africa in the quarterfinals.