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Federer books semifinal berth

— PHOTO: AFP

PACKING A PUNCH:Rafael Nadal produced a solid performance to beat Novak Djokovic in

LONDON: Roger Federer sealed his place in the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals with a 7-6(5), 6-3 victory over Swedish fourth seed Robin Soderling on Thursday.

Federer will top Group B after producing his third dominant display.

After a disappointing season, which saw him lose the French Open and Wimbledon titles he won in 2009 as well as the No. 1 ranking, Federer has been in good form over the last few days at the O2 Arena.

His imperious display against Murray on Tuesday followed an equally convincing straight sets win over Ferrer and a record of 14 wins from 15 previous meetings with Soderling suggested he would get what he needed to qualify.

It took the six-time Wimbledon champion just three games to secure the first break as Soderling self-destructed with three successive unforced errors.

Yet, when the Swede finds his range with his booming groundstrokes, he can be an intimidating customer for even the very best.

Soderling's baseline barrage kept Federer off-balance in the eighth game and forced the Swiss into some uncharacteristic errors which allowed the World No. 4 to break back.

Sublime forehand

But, Federer regained his composure quickly to ensure that the set went to a tie-break.

A sublime forehand from Federer secured two set-points in the tie-breaker and he converted the second with a blocked backhand that Soderling opted to leave, only to turn and watch in horror as it clipped the line.

That misjudgement was enough to book Federer's semifinal place but Soderling was still fighting for his place and he missed a chance to get back into the match when he squandered two break points at the start of the second set.

Although Soderling fought off two break points in a marathon fourth game, Federer was playing with the drive of a man who needed the win far more than he actually did.

He kept coming at Soderling and secured the only break of the second set with a tremendous whipped forehand winner before serving out the match.

On course

On Wednesday, Rafael Nadal kept himself on course for a semifinal slot after producing a masterful display to beat Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-2.

Nadal was pushed hard by Djokovic in the first set at London's O2 Arena, but the World No. 1 had all the answers and eventually crushed the Serbian third seed with a ruthless display of power hitting.

A victory over Tomas Berdych on Friday will guarantee the Spaniard a spot in the last four and he could even qualify from Group A without winning depending on the result of Djokovic's match against Andy Roddick.

Berdych's win against Roddick earlier on Wednesday meant Djokovic could have sealed his semifinal place if he had beaten Nadal, but now he has to defeat the American to keep his challenge alive.

Eye problem

Djokovic had been hampered by an eye problem from late in the first set and he said: “I'm just really annoyed by the fact that something like this can affect the match. It did because my right eye got irritated and from the five-all I could not see a ball, especially the return. It was just terrible.”

Djokovic called for a medical time-out at 4-4 to deal with a problem with a contact lens.

He returned but was still troubled by the eye when his serve deserted him at 5-5 - a double fault giving Nadal a break point which he converted when Djokovic sent a forehand long.

The results:

Group A: Rafael Nadal bt Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-2.

Group B: Roger Federer bt Robin Soderling. 7-6(5), 6-3 . — AFP

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