Britain's Andy Murray ousted defending champion Roger Federer from the Masters Cup, rallying for a 4-6, 7-6 (3), 7-5 victory Friday. Federer, a four-time winner of the season-ending tournament, appeared to be bothered in the third set by the sore back that forced him to withdraw during the Paris Masters two weeks ago. The Swiss star received treatment three times Friday but refused to quit. Federer saved seven match points while serving at 4-5, before Murray converted two games later, breaking when Federer sent a forehand long. “A win over Roger Federer means almost as much as winning the Masters Cup to me,” Murray said. “He's the best player of all time. He's still playing great. I know I'm going to be tired tomorrow, but this match meant a lot to me.” Murray, who had his left hand iced during one of Federer's time-outs, will play Russia's Nikolay Davydenko in the semifinals. Federer's loss allowed France's Gilles Simon to advance. He will meet Serbia's Novak Djokovic. Simon earlier beat Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-4. The ninth-ranked Simon got in when a sore knee forced top-ranked Rafael Nadal to pull out of the season-ending tournament. Stepanek already had been eliminated. The ninth game of the third set between Murray and Federer lasted 17 minutes and went to deuce 10 times. Federer fended off the last of the seven match points with an ace, then blasted another before Murray sent a forehand long. Federer tried to force a tiebreaker, but with the match clock reaching 3 hours, he committed three forehand errors while serving at 15-15. Murray already had clinched a semifinal spot from the Red Group. Federer was trying to repeat last year's feat of coming back after losing his opening-round match. The atmosphere was more akin to a final than the last match of group play. Qi Zhong Stadium was packed, and while the crowd overwhelmingly favored Federer, Murray has won over a lot of fans in his debut here. They all got their money's worth, with plenty of drama and great tennis. The two players exchanged breaks in the middle of the first set. Then, with Murray serving at 4-5, Federer broke at love. Murray broke in the opening game of the second set, then again to pull ahead 5-2. He had double set point while serving in the next game, only to see Federer rally to break. The Swiss star had triple breakpoint with Murray serving again for the set at 5-4. Murray forced deuce, but Federer whacked a clean forehand winner to set up another break chance, and Murray double-faulted to make it 5-5. Federer rallied from a 3-1 deficit in the tiebreaker to level, but Murray ran off the last four points. Federer had the trainer come out and massage his lower left back as he lay face down on the court during the break, then during the next two changeovers and frequently rubbed the sore area the rest of the match. At one point, he sat in a linesman's chair while waiting for Murray to start a service game. Murray broke him while racing to a 3-0 lead, but Federer then ran off four straight games. Murray broke the next game to even the set at 4-4, with Federer hitting a routine overhead way long on breakpoint. – AP __
