November 16, 2007	Friday	Ziqa’ad 05, 1428

SHANGHAI, Nov 15: Spain’s Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer romped to straight-sets wins to book their places in the Masters Cup semi-finals on Thursday.

World number two Nadal downed Novak Djokovic 6-4, 6-4 before the in-form Ferrer thumped Richard Gasquet 6-1, 6-1 to top Gold Group with three wins out of three.

Sixth-ranked Ferrer, the revelation of the tournament, was broken in the opening game but was otherwise flawless in the first set, arrowing 12 winners past Gasquet as he broke three times before serving out.

Gasquet, wilting in the face of Ferrer’s near-perfect tennis, held serve only once in the match as the Spaniard repeatedly pounded the lines, converting his first match point in just 59 minutes.

Earlier, a much-improved Nadal was rarely tested by the disappointing Djokovic, who had already been eliminated, sealing a straightforward win in one hour and 44 minutes.

Nadal started strongly, whipping backhand and forehand winners past Djokovic as he went 4-1 up without dropping a point on serve.

Djokovic finally showed signs of life in the sixth game, flashing a pair of deep winners before getting a lucky break on a let cord.

The Serb, serving at 5-3 down, saved the first set point with an instinctive behind-the-back pick-up but went long in the next game to put the Spaniard ahead.

Nadal broke for 2-1 in the second and was cruising to victory until facing two break points in the eighth, pumping his fists in delight as he escaped by cutting out Djokovic’s pass with a backhand volley.

Serving at 5-4, the lively Spaniard converted the first of two match points with a forehand down the line, raising his arms in celebration.

It was a better performance from Nadal, who won his opener against Gasquet but then suffered a shock defeat against Ferrer, one of a series of upsets in the 4.45-million-dollar tournament featuring the world’s top eight players.

Top-ranked Roger Federer lost his first round-robin match in six visits to the season finale and Djokovic and Nikolay

Davydenko, the world number three and four, have also been beaten by lower-ranked opposition.

Nadal was beaten in the semi-finals by Federer last year after pulling out injured in 2005. Djokovic, Ferrer and Gasquet are appearing at the tournament for the first time.

Djokovic, 20, has been the tournament’s biggest disappointment, going down three times in straight sets despite a breakthrough year in which he has won five titles and reached his first Grand Slam final.

Thursday’s results (prefix number denotes seeding):

Gold Group: 6-David Ferrer (ESP) bt 8-Richard Gasquet (FRA) 6-1, 6-1; 2-Rafael Nadal (ESP) bt 3-Novak Djokovic (SRB) 6-4, 6-4.—Agencies