London, Nov. 24: Swedish fourth seed Robin Soderling defeated Spain’s David Ferrer 7-5, 7-5 on Tuesday to keep alive his bid to reach the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals.
Soderling and Ferrer had both lost their opening Group B matches in the prestigious end-of-year event so the loser of this clash was almost certain to be seen off. It is the former French Open finalist who remains in with a chance of reaching the last four if he can beat Roger Federer in the last round of group matches on Thursday.
Ferrer, the seventh seed and 2007 Tour Finals runner-up, will face Andy Murray knowing his fate is all but sealed already.
The opening stages of the first set were comprised mostly of gruelling baseline rallies, so it was something of a surprise when Ferrer saved a break point in the sixth game by flicking a fine volleyed winner.
Earlier, Federer moved closer to a place in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Andy Murray.
Federer had lost his last two meetings with Murray and has never been completely comfortable when facing the British No.1, but the Swiss was at his imperious best as he romped to his second successive Group B victory in the prestigious end-of-year event.