Davydenko shocks Federer in semis

ATP World Tour Finals
Venue: O2 Arena, London Date: 22-29 November
Tournament coverage: Live on BBC Two, 28/29 November, 1430 GMT; every match live on BBC Radio 5 live/5 live sports extra; live text commentaries on BBC Sport website; live coverage every day on Sky Sports

World number one Federer is a four-time winner of the event

By Piers Newbery BBC Sport at the O2 Arena

Nikolay Davydenko caused a major upset by defeating Roger Federer for the first time in 13 attempts to reach the final of the ATP World Tour Finals.

Sixth seed Davydenko beat the world number one 6-2 4-6 7-5 in a contest that started only 15 hours after the Russian's final group match.

Federer had been looking to match the five victories of Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl at the season-ending event, but Davydenko secured a return to the final he also made 12 months ago in one hour 55 minutes.

Davydenko will face the winner of Saturday's evening match between Juan Martin del Potro and Robin Soderling on Sunday.

The semi-final was always going to be a daunting task for the 28-year-old Davydenko, who also reached last year's final but who went into the match with an 0-12 record against Federer.

And when asked after Friday's win over Soderling whether he had enough time to prepare for facing Federer, the Russian had simply laughed.

606: DEBATE Davydenko doesn't have the killer shot many top players do but his talent is his incredible timing davibop

Federer enjoyed the added advantage of a day off on Friday and predictably looked the sharper in the opening moments, winning the first seven points and earning two break points in game two.

But the Swiss found the net on both occasions and quickly regretted it as his game began to unravel, a double-fault, an awkward prod over the baseline and a hooked forehand into the tramlines giving Davydenko the first break at 2-1.

Davydenko has struggled to make much impression on the Federer game in the past because he lacks a killer weapon, such as a big serve or powerful forehand, but after three tough games in London his groundstrokes were well and truly grooved.

As Federer failed to make many winners off his first serve, Davydenko was able to control the battle for territory by moving his man into wider and deeper positions than felt comfortable.

It began to produce errors from the 15-time Grand Slam champion and a double fault did not help as the Swiss was broken to love to fall a double-break down at 4-1, at which point the chants of "Let's go Roger, let's go!" from the Federer supporters took on a hint of desperation.

Davydenko also reached the final last season

Their man calmed those fears when a beautiful backhand lob and heavy forehand winner into the corner helped him cut the deficit with his first break, but Davydenko restored his advantage with a fabulous cross-court backhand pass on his way to 5-2.

The Davydenko serve is generally seen by opponents as an area to attack but the Russian closed out the set with little fuss and made solid progress in the second.

It was Federer who was under pressure again with defeat looming at 4-4 but he survived a tense game from deuce, and Davydenko finally cracked in game 10 as a couple of nervous errors handed Federer two set points.

The world number one let out a relieved yelp when a Davydenko forehand sailed long on the second and it appeared that normal service was about to resume.

The early stages of the final set were a low-key affair as both men dominated on serve but after Federer held comfortably to lead 5-4, a magnificent overhead return off a Davydenko smash finally got the 17,000 spectators engaged.

But the Russian recovered superbly from 0-30 to level and then stunned those same spectators when he broke serve with a backhand down the line to leave him one service game from a landmark victory.

It was as tense a game as the O2 arena has witnessed this week as Federer recovered from 0-30 to earn a break-back point with a brilliant backhand, only for Davydenko to respond with a rasping forehand into the corner.

And the Russian wrapped it up after an hour and 55 minutes on his first match point before taking the applause of a slightly surprised crowd, while an equally bemused Federer headed straight to the locker room.

In the first of the doubles semi-finals, seventh seeds Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram defeated fifth seed Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak 6-4 7-6 (7-4).

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