<p>Japan's Kei Nishikori surged to a three-set victory over alternate David Ferrer at the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday and must now wait anxiously to see if he has done enough to reach the semi-finals.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The 24-year-old lost the opening set to the Spaniard, who was a late stand-in for injured Milos Raonic, but played beautifully after that to seal a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win — his second in Group B after also beating Andy Murray.<br /><br />The result was enough to guarantee six-times champion Roger Federer a place in the semi-finals even before the Swiss walks on court to face home favourite Murray in the evening session.<br /><br />Should Murray win in straight sets he would top the group, but any other result would send Federer through as group winner with Nishikori runner-up and the Scot packing his bags.<br /><br /> Near sell-out crowds at the O2 Arena had not been treated to a three-setter at the tournament before Thursday's action but when Ferrer stepped in for a brief cameo role the likelihood was that the gritty 32-year-old would provide one.<br /><br />Ferrer, beaten in nearly three hours by Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters, a result that scuppered his hopes of qualifying for the year-ender by right, hit back from a break down to take a high-quality opening set.<br /><br />From then on, however, US Open runner-up Nishikori showed why he has become a trailblazer for Asian tennis, unleashing his full repertoire of fiercely struck groundstrokes and silky drop shots to run Ferrer into the ground.<br /><br />After converting his first set point in the second set with a backhand winner, Nishikori raced ahead in the decider against a tiring opponent who will return home around $160,000 richer for his brief appearance in London.<br /><br />Djokovic excels<br /><br />For 15 minutes Novak Djokovic appeared to have a fight on his hands at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday, then the Serb dialled up his A game and tore Stanislas Wawrinka to pieces.<br /><br />Such was the perfection of his tennis for most of a 6-3, 6-0 thrashing it is hard to argue against him crowning his year as world number one and with a hat-trick of titles at the ATP's year-ending showpiece.<br /><br />The 27-year-old has conceded only five games so far at the O2 Arena yet the arithmetic of round-robin tennis means the seven-times Grand Slam champion is still not definitely assured of a semifinal spot.<br /><br />Even more bizarrely, US Open champion Marin Cilic, crushed 6-3, 6-1 by Czech Tomas Berdych in the day's earlier Group A match could conceivably scrape through despite two heavy losses.</p>
<p>Japan's Kei Nishikori surged to a three-set victory over alternate David Ferrer at the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday and must now wait anxiously to see if he has done enough to reach the semi-finals.<br /><br /></p>.<p>The 24-year-old lost the opening set to the Spaniard, who was a late stand-in for injured Milos Raonic, but played beautifully after that to seal a 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 win — his second in Group B after also beating Andy Murray.<br /><br />The result was enough to guarantee six-times champion Roger Federer a place in the semi-finals even before the Swiss walks on court to face home favourite Murray in the evening session.<br /><br />Should Murray win in straight sets he would top the group, but any other result would send Federer through as group winner with Nishikori runner-up and the Scot packing his bags.<br /><br /> Near sell-out crowds at the O2 Arena had not been treated to a three-setter at the tournament before Thursday's action but when Ferrer stepped in for a brief cameo role the likelihood was that the gritty 32-year-old would provide one.<br /><br />Ferrer, beaten in nearly three hours by Nishikori in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters, a result that scuppered his hopes of qualifying for the year-ender by right, hit back from a break down to take a high-quality opening set.<br /><br />From then on, however, US Open runner-up Nishikori showed why he has become a trailblazer for Asian tennis, unleashing his full repertoire of fiercely struck groundstrokes and silky drop shots to run Ferrer into the ground.<br /><br />After converting his first set point in the second set with a backhand winner, Nishikori raced ahead in the decider against a tiring opponent who will return home around $160,000 richer for his brief appearance in London.<br /><br />Djokovic excels<br /><br />For 15 minutes Novak Djokovic appeared to have a fight on his hands at the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday, then the Serb dialled up his A game and tore Stanislas Wawrinka to pieces.<br /><br />Such was the perfection of his tennis for most of a 6-3, 6-0 thrashing it is hard to argue against him crowning his year as world number one and with a hat-trick of titles at the ATP's year-ending showpiece.<br /><br />The 27-year-old has conceded only five games so far at the O2 Arena yet the arithmetic of round-robin tennis means the seven-times Grand Slam champion is still not definitely assured of a semifinal spot.<br /><br />Even more bizarrely, US Open champion Marin Cilic, crushed 6-3, 6-1 by Czech Tomas Berdych in the day's earlier Group A match could conceivably scrape through despite two heavy losses.</p>
