Tennis: Nadal loses to Davydenko at ATP finals

LONDON — Rafael Nadal fell out of contention for a spot in the semifinals at the ATP World Tour Finals with a second straight defeat, losing 6-1, 7-6 (4) to Nikolay Davydenko on Wednesday.

Nadal looked sluggish throughout and was thoroughly outplayed by the Russian, who secured his first win of the round-robin phase and can still reach the semis. Nadal, however, will not reach the semis for the first time.

Davydenko broke twice in the first set and was up a break twice in the second. Nadal then rallied, breaking back both times to carry momentum going into the tiebreaker. However, Davydenko kept his cool and clinched it with a forehand winner on his first match point.

Earlier, Robin Soderling became the first player to reach the semis of the season-ending tournament by beating Novak Djokovic 7-6 (5), 6-1. The Swede, who qualified for the eight-player tournament only when Andy Roddick pulled out with an injury, also beat Nadal in straight sets.

Davydenko dominated the first set, dictating play seemingly at will and chasing Nadal from corner to corner with his accurate groundstrokes as the Spaniard grew increasingly frustrated. Nadal slumped his shoulders in despair after double-faulting to go down 0-30 when serving at 4-1, and had a hard time the rest of the set. He didn't bother chasing down Davydenko's winners in the next game and hardly challenged his serve on set point, letting it whizz by for an ace.

When he went down 30-40 on serve in the first game of the second set, it was enough for someone in the crowd to yell "Wake up!"

The Spaniard did, but it wasn't enough.

He held serve and put up a tougher fight for the rest of the set, but Davydenko was simply too good, finishing with 27 winners to Nadal's 12 — only three of which came in the first set.

Soderling outlasted Djokovic in a tense first set despite wasting three straight set points with the third-ranked Serb serving at 4-5. Djokovic then put up little resistance in the second and was broken three straight times, netting a forehand on Soderling's second match point.

"I won two matches in straight sets against the world No. 2 and No. 3. I couldn't have asked for anything more," Soderling said. "So far, I'm enjoying it a lot. But there's still at least two more matches to go. I hope to do really well in those two as well."

The loss ended Djokovic's 11-match winning streak, and was his first defeat against Soderling in six encounters.