Story highlights
Roger Federer thrashes Rafael Nadal to reach semifinals of ATP Tour Finals
Britain's Andy Murray pulls out of the tournament in London
Murray has been struggling with a groin injury and lost opener to David Ferrer
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beats Mardy Fish to keep alive his last four hopes
Roger Federer swept aside his old adversary Rafael Nadal in straight sets Tuesday to qualify for the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
The defending champion from Switzerland was at his peerless best in the 02 Arena and needed just an hour to complete a 6-3 6-0 victory in their Group B match.
It was the 30-year-old’s first win over the Spaniard since meeting in last year’s final at the season-ending championship.
Federer, aiming for a record sixth title in the Tour Finals, gained the crucial break in the sixth game of the opening set before closing it out despite strong resistance from Nadal.
But that faded in the second as he was immediately broken with Federer taking total command.
The 16-time grand slam champion was simply irresistible as he produced a stream of winners for two further breaks to wrap up the match and his passage to the last four ahead of a final group clash against Mardy Fish of the United States.
Can Federer make Tour Finals history?
In earlier Group B action Tuesday, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France beat Fish 7-6 (7-4) 6-1.
The straight sets victory kept alive Tsonga’s qualification hopes after he lost to Federer in their opening match.
His final group match with Nadal will decide who goes through with Federer.
“It’s good to win here for the first time and of course it’s good for my confidence because now I will play a match to qualify for the semifinals,” Tsonga said.
Fish, who lost to Nadal in three sets in their first round-robin clash, fell away in the second set after a closely contested opener.
It is the first appearance at the finals for American No.1 Fish, who has also been struggling with a hamstring injury.
Earlier, Britain’s Andy Murray has pulled out of the finals with a groin injury.
Murray aggravated the problem during an opening round-robin loss to Spain’s David Ferrer and said he was unable to continue in the elite eight-man event.
The world number three picked up the injury during practice last week and revealed that he was told then to take a week to 10 days off.
“I just didn’t have enough time to recover,” he said.
“It was one of those things where you kind of hope that things are going to get better, but the reality was that wasn’t ever going to happen.
“I couldn’t give anywhere near my best. So that’s what was disappointing. It would probably do myself more damage by playing than not,” he added.
Murray, who went in to the end of season finale as one of the favorites, lost 6-4 7-5 to World No.5 Ferrer and needed to be treated by the trainer at the end of the first set.
World No.1 Novak Djokovic won the other Group A opener when he edged Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic in three sets.
He will next play alternate and fellow Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, who will replace Murray in the competition.