Davydenko to duel with Djokovic for year-end Shanghai title (Roundup)

By Bill Scott Nov 15, 2008, 13:31 GMT

Shanghai - Russian Nikolay Davydenko will face Novak Djokovic for the second time this week as the pair meet in the Sunday title showdown at the Masters Cup.

Serbia's Djokovic beat the Russian on Tuesday in group play at the year-end spectacular and earned his second chance through a 7-5, 6-2 defeat Saturday of Andy Murray, conqueror of Roger Federer a day earlier.

Djokovic survived 55 unforced errors and missed 11 break points as he defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

The trophy match will be the first at the season wrapup event without Federer.

But Murray's three-hour effort in upsetting the Swiss evidently took a physical and emotional toll, with the Scott appearing to sleepwalk through much of his one-hour, 39-minute loss to Davydenko.

Murray is just the third player to defeat Federer at least three times in a season, joining Rafael Nadal (four in 2006 and 2008) and David Nalbandian (2003).

The persistent baseline game of the unheralded and low-profile Davydenko was enough to see the Scot off with just seven winners compared to 32 for the Russian.

Murray finished 2008 with a 58-16 record, one more loss than Federer.

Djokovic took treatment in the third set for a left calf muscle pull as he denied the dream of year-end debutant Simon, who claimed the last of the spots in the eight-man field when Rafael Nadal withdrew.

'It's the Masters Cup, best eight players in the world this year are here, it's a huge success for me to reach the final,' said the Serb.

'My injury is nothing too serious. It was just cramping because of a lot of running and a lot of rallies we had. So I just had to treat it a little bit in order to end up the match.'

France's Simon brought a 1-0 head-to-head over Djokovic onto the court after defeating him in the Marseille second round in February.

But the rookie was unable to impose his game on the Australian Open holder after winning the first set in the contest which lasted a shade under three hours.

'When you play three hours like this, you have so many opportunities to win. That's why it's very hard to lose.'

Djokovic has capped a remarkable turnaround from a year ago in Shanghai when he lost all three of his group matches to return a broken man to Europe.

At this edition, he retains a chance to lift his first title since winning Rome over Swiss Stan Wawrinka in May.

'To be in the final is something special. Every player has a motive more to do well and to win the title.'