THE CANADIAN PRESS
SHANGHAI, China -- Canadian Daniel Nestor and Serbian partner Nenad Zimonjic won their final round-robin match at the Masters Cup on Friday to take a 3-0 record into the semifinals of the year-end event.
Nestor, a native of Toronto, and Zimonjic defeated Leander Paes of Indian and Czech Lukas Dlouhy 6-1, 6-4 and will face Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay and Peru's Juis Horna in the semis Saturday in a re-match of the French Open final. Nestor and Zimonjic lost that match in June.
"It's revenge, V for vendetta," Nestor joked. "Those guys have not played together so much this year. But they've beaten some good teams and have really shown that they deserve to be here among the eight best in the world."
Meanwhile in singles play, Britain's Andy Murray ousted defending champion Roger Federer, rallying for a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory Friday.
Federer, a four-time winner of the season-ending tournament, appeared to be bothered in the third set by the sore back that forced him to withdraw during the Paris Masters two weeks ago. The Swiss star received treatment three times Friday but refused to quit.
Federer saved seven match points while serving at 4-5, before Murray converted two games later, breaking when Federer sent a forehand long.
"A win over Roger Federer means almost as much as winning the Masters Cup to me," Murray said. "He's the best player of all time. He's still playing great. I know I'm going to be tired tomorrow, but this match meant a lot to me."
Murray, who had his left hand iced during one of Federer's time-outs, will play Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals. Federer's loss allowed France's Gilles Simon to advance. He will meet Serbia's Novak Djokovic.
The ninth game of the third set lasted 17 minutes and went to deuce 10 times. Federer fended off the last of the seven match points with an ace, then blasted another before Murray sent a forehand long.
"When you play against Roger, you got to expect him to play some great stuff, especially when he's behind," Murray said. "He hit a couple of aces, a couple of big forehands. I missed a couple of returns I maybe shouldn't have."
Federer tried to force a tiebreaker, but with the match clock reaching 3 hours, he committed three forehand errors while serving at 15-15.
Murray, who came in as one of the few players with a winning record against Federer at 3-2, already had clinched a semifinal spot from the Red Group. But he lived up to his promise not to take it easy, wanting to avoid the prospect of facing Federer again if both were to make the final.
Federer was trying to repeat last year's feat of coming back after losing his opening-round match.
The atmosphere was more akin to a final than the last match of group play. Qi Zhong stadium was packed, and while the crowd overwhelmingly favoured Federer, Murray has won over a lot of fans in his debut here.
They all got their money's worth, with plenty of drama and great tennis.
The two players exchanged breaks in the middle of the first set. Then, with Murray serving at 4-5, Federer broke at love.
Murray broke in the opening game of the second set, then again to pull ahead 5-2. He had double set point while serving in the next game, only to see Federer rally to break.
The Swiss star had triple breakpoint with Murray serving again for the set at 5-4. Murray forced deuce, but Federer whacked a clean forehand winner to set up another break chance, and Murray double-faulted to make it 5-5.
Federer rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the tiebreaker to level, but Murray ran off the last four points.
Federer had the trainer come out and massage his lower left back as he lay face down on the court during the break, then during the next two changeovers and frequently rubbed the sore area the rest of the match. At one point, he sat in a linesman's chair while waiting for Murray to start a service game.
Murray broke him while racing to a 3-0 lead, but Federer then ran off four straight games. Murray broke the next game to even the set at 4-4, with Federer hitting a routine overhead way long on breakpoint.
Simon earlier beat Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-4 in what was essentially a meaningless match because Federer controlled his own destiny -- win and he was through, lose and go home.
"It was easier tonight because my match was not really important," said the ninth-ranked Simon, who got in when a sore knee forced top-ranked Rafael Nadal to pull out of the season-ending tournament before it began.
The 26th-ranked Stepanek -- added to the eight-man draw when Andy Roddick pulled out Wednesday with a sprained ankle -- already had been eliminated.
Nestor is looking to repeat as doubles champion. He and former partner Mark Knowles hoisted the trophy in Shanghai last year.
Nestor and Zimonjic, ranked No. 2 in the world, are also battling the Americans Bob and Mike Bryan to cap the season in the No. 1 spot.
The Canadian and the Serb are on a roll in Shanghai. Nestor and Zimonjic saved all five break points they faced against Paes and Dlouhy. They also recorded four aces and broke their opponents three times.
"We're jelling well and playing well, we're eager to go a lot farther here," said Nestor.
- With files from The Associated Press
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