Spanish tennis star Rafael Nadal rallied to beat Russian Nikolay Davydenko, 5-7, 6-4, 6-4, to reach the semifinals of the year-end Masters Cup in Shanghai, China.
Davydenko seemed to run out of energy in the deciding third set, as he did after leading American James Blake by a set and service break before losing his previous match.
Nadal's victory Friday gives him second place in the Gold Group after his three round-robin matches and sets up a semifinal against Red-Group winner and world number-one Roger Federer. Nadal is 6-2 in his career against the Swiss star.
Blake, who had won his first two matches, was already assured of the top spot in the Gold Group and will play defending champion David Nalbandian of Argentina in the semifinals.
In Blake's meaningless final round-robin match Friday, he lost to Spaniard Tommy Robredo in three sets (6-2, 3-6, 7-5).
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP .