Nadal powers past Djokovic

Rafael Nadal boosted his hopes of reaching the Masters Cup semi-finals with a 6-4 6-4 win over Novak Djokovic.

Djokovic put up a much better fight than in his opening two defeats but the relentless Spaniard was too strong.

Nadal broke once to take the first set and then again at 1-1 in the second to take control.

The world number two must await the result of the last Gold Group match between Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer to see if he will progress.

If Gasquet wins that match by two sets to one, it will leave the Frenchman level with Nadal and Ferrer on points as well as sets won and lost.

The two semi-finalists would then be decided by games won and lost.

Djokovic is the only player definitely out of contention but despite losing all three group matches, he leaves Shanghai with his pride restored.

The 20-year-old put his lacklustre displays in his opening two matches down to mental and physical exhaustion after a breakthrough season, but he seemed determined to go down fighting.

At 3-4 in the second set, Djokovic threw everything at Nadal, earning two break points with some dazzling shot-making.

But Nadal, who lost in three sets to fellow Spaniard Ferrer in his last match, eventually ground down his opponent and Djokovic was unable to muster a recovery.

ATP Masters Cup, Shanghai, 11-18 November:

Red Group:
Roger Federer (Swi)
Andy Roddick (US)
Nikolay Davydenko (Rus)
Fernando Gonzalez (Chi)

Gold Group:
Rafael Nadal (Spa)
Novak Djokovic (Ser)
David Ferrer (Spa)
Richard Gasquet (Fra)

Source: BBC Sport