THE ASSOCIATED PRESS SHANGHAI, China -- Nikolay Davydenko defeated a tired Andy Murray 7-5, 6-2 Saturday to advance to the Masters Cup final. The Russian will meet Novak Djokovic, who earlier rallied to oust France's Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5. In a round-robin match this week, Djokovic beat Davydenko in three sets. Despite consistently being ranked in the top five, the 27-year-old Davydenko has never reached a Grand Slam final, and his best performance in three previous appearances here had been a semifinal loss in 2005. In the doubles final, Daniel Nestor of Toronto and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic will face the Bryan brothers with the ATP No. 1 ranking at stake. Nestor's team upped the ante in the duel to finish the season atop the points table with a crushing 6-1, 6-3 semifinal defeat of Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna on Saturday. "We didn't expect to win that easily," said Nestor. "But we played great and we're deserving to go through to the final. "We've been playing great for three straight matches." Djokovic, meanwhile, was unspectacular but steady and relentless against Murray, who looked exhausted from his three-hour victory over second-ranked Roger Federer on Friday night. Davydenko was fresher, having not played since Thursday, and he finished with 33 winners to just seven for Murray. Murray said he had no reason to question his decision to go full out against Federer even though he already had clinched a semifinal spot. "I beat probably the best player of all time," he said. "I have no regrets about doing that. To beat him ... means a similar amount to winning a tournament like this. "Ideally I would have liked to have beaten him easier ... and given myself a slightly better chance to prepare for this match," Murray said, adding that he didn't get to sleep until 2:30 a.m. Davydenko said he owed thanks to Federer -- and hopes Djokovic's nearly three-hour match against Simon will have the same effect in the final. "Murray was very tired," Davydenko said, adding that the Briton looked like he was ready "to die." Both players struggled with their serve early and swapped breaks to open the match, and Murray had to fend off three break points in the third game. They stayed on serve until Murray served at 5-5. He went up 40-15, but was swinging his racket in anger between points as Davydenko pulled to deuce. Murray thought he had an ace to save a break point, but it was overruled on a Davydenko challenge. Murray wasn't convinced, walking toward the net for a closer look, then sent a backhand wide for the break. Davydenko held to finish off the set with an ace and a backhand winner down the line. He then ran off the last five games of the second set as Murray looked increasingly dispirited, trudging around the court between points. "I don't want to try to make excuses," Murray said. "He played much better than me. I did the best that I could with what I had." Djokovic struggled against Simon in the first set, when he committed 21 unforced errors, and he later said he had been nervous. But the Serb pulled himself together, mixing up stinging groundstrokes with deft drop shots from behind the baseline. Djokovic, who lost all three of his matches in his Masters Cup debut last year, got down on his knees and kissed the court after winning in 2 hours, 51 minutes. "I didn't have such a great time here last year," Djokovic said. "Didn't win a single set. But I learned something. Took the best out of it and used it this year." Simon dropped only six points in five service games in the first set. Djokovic made back-to-back mistakes to hand Simon the only break he needed. But in the second set, Djokovic picked up his game and started clipping the lines. At the same time, Simon's level of play dropped. He had his first two double-faults in the next game, the second on a break point. Djokovic held serve for the rest of the set to level. Simon, who was added to the field of the season-ending tournament when No. 1 Rafael Nadal withdrew with a knee injury, was twice unfortunate with net bounces to lose his serve in the third game of the third set. Djokovic got a winner on a shot that hit the tape and dropped over. Simon later saved one break point, but hit the tape on Djokovic's next opportunity and the ball sailed just long, causing Simon to whack the net in frustration. Djokovic served for the match at 5-4, but double-faulted on a break point. "I was pretty exhausted, had to save some energy," he said. "I went for the shots. I wanted to make the points shorter. I risked, and the risk didn't pay off in that game. But it paid off afterwards." He broke right back and converted his second chance to finish the match.
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