Rafael Nadal flawless after outlasting David Ferrer

He will be overhauled by Federer if the world No 3 wins the Tour Finals. “The way I am playing at the end of this season helps to try to start the next year with a different energy than what I started last year”.

While Nadal says the signs had first become more positive on the practice court in Montreal in August, perhaps his most shocking result was a third round US Open loss to Fabio Fognini when he led by two sets and a break. But Djokovic has won all three matches this year, including the Beijing final in straight sets last month.

Earlier, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and David Ferrer played out the most competitive of dead rubbers, with the 14-time grand slam champion eventually edging a 6-7 (2/7) 6-3 6-4 victory after two hours and 37 minutes.

“You can feel that he’s starting to get comfortable on the court, starting to play better”. It could make this afternoon’s match another one to remember, even if it doesn’t stretch to almost six hours. Each worked a break chance in the third and fourth games, each survived. The Swiss is 0-3 against Nadal at the Australian Open (2009 Finals, 2012 Semifinals, and 2014 Semifinals).

Murray led 4-2 in the first-set tiebreaker, but then lost the next five points and was broken in the first game of the second to put Wawrinka in control. But with confidence came his fearsome backhand, and he broke down the Murray defence with a quick break and a love hold. “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”.

Murray, though, was particularly disappointed about his error count. When asked about how long he would be keeping the beard, Federer said “If it itches too much, I’ll take it off. If my girls can’t stand it, I’ll take it off. If I look in the mirror and I don’t like it, I’ll take it off”. Cheap ones, as well. It is always hard to play against him, and I will need to rest a lot before tomorrow.

“In the tiebreak, I made bad mistakes at the wrong time”, Murray said. A straight shootout for the semi-finals – this match will decide who will get a chance to face the other group topper Roger Federer. The set remained on serve until 4-4, when Nadal came through with the crucial break, and proceeded to serve out the set to move to 3-0 in London. “The first couple of matches he played here, against Wawrinka and Murray, showed that he feels more confident”, Djokovic said.

Nadal would manufacture another opening at 4-4, however, converting it immediately before serving out the victory.

Both men got, and deserved, an ovation.

Regardless of Saturday’s outcome, Nadal has achieved what he set out to do in his much-improved final segment of the season, which is to give himself a platform for returning to previous heights in 2016. I’m competing with everybody else equally for this trophy as any other trophy. Everybody would take it nearly except maybe a few players at this tournament.