Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal in semis

Novak Djokovic will face Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals after beating Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5.

He needed to beat Federer, obviously, having lost to Djokovic, while hoping against hope that Tomas Berdych could later beat the Serb for only the third time in 23 attempts. It’s not fair. There is no need to create any kind of bad blood between Roger and me because I said what I needed to say, that he deserved to win that match, he was a better player. “Just a couple of points that I didn’t play quite well enough”.

Federer, who has won the Tour Finals a record six times, will face either Murray or Wawrinka, in the semi-finals.

Losing to Federer in straight sets would never be an easy result to stomach for the ultra-competitive Serb, but it was especially painful since it ruined his three remarkable winning streaks.

They could collide again in the ATP World Tour Final if they will win in their respective semis matches on Saturday.

The added complication for Murray is he wants to be in prime shape for next weekend’s Davis Cup final on clay in Belgium and Wawrinka, who was in a similar position past year, feels that could be a factor. The last two matches haven’t been on the level desired but I still managed to win two and lose one and I’m in the semi-finals.

Aside from his two most recent matches, however, there is little to dislike regarding Djokovic’s chances heading into championship weekend.

Federer, playing with a weeklong stubble, faced more questions after the match about his beard than about the struggles with his serve that saw him broken five times. “It was impressive”, Federer said of the 2014 US Open champion.

He finished somewhere in between, defeating Ferrer – but in almost three hours, 6-7 (2-7) 6-3 6-4 – to conclude the round-robin stage 3-0 just as his longtime rival Roger Federer did Thursday.

Federer was in trouble again near the start of the deciding set as Nishikori got break point at 1-1 only for the Swiss player to serve his way out of trouble to go 2-1 up.

Nishikori responded with a two hander that sailed wide, allowing Federer to take a 3-1 lead. But as 2015 comes to a close, the 29-year-old has provided encouragement that he can enjoy a much better year ahead with a few fine performances in London this week.

We all know that he is improving and he is definitely on the come back, but will the Spaniard, who has not won a major title this year, be the one to dethrone the three-time defending champion (who has also won three out of four Grand Slams this year)?

However, the Czech would impress to quickly break back – with the World No. 1 suddenly producing a bevy of unforced errors to see that lead slip back to 2-2.