Britain's Andy Murray labored to a third set tie-break victory over Spain's Fernando Verdasco in their final Group A game at the World Tour Finals Thursday. Murray won 6-4, 6-7 (4-7), 7-6 (7/3) in three hours at London's O2 Arena, eliminating the Spaniard from the competition but leaving his own chances of reaching the semifinals in the balance. He converted just one of 13 break points all match as Verdasco dug in, knowing defeat meant certain elimination. Murray must wait for the result of group leader Roger Federer's match against Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro later Thursday to see whether he has made the last four of the season-ending tournament of the world's top eight players. The Scot could have gone straight into the semi-finals if he won in two sets. “I needed to win the match,” the 22-year-old said. I just had to focus on winning. Then there was a very slim chance of me going out. “It was tough. He played ridiculously well on the big points in the second set, and to a certain extent in the third set, as well. Served huge. “When he's behind in games and on break points, his second serve, which in previous matches I've been able to attack, he was even acing off that, putting me in really tough positions. “After the first set, he played like he had nothing to lose, was hitting huge forehands, huge serves. Even when he was down break point, he was going for huge shots, as well.” Despite being eliminated, Verdasco was putting an upbeat spin on his rugged performances. “It's tough when you play good and you lose. But the positive thing is against the number one, four and five in the world, I was really close to winning,” he said. “I just need to improve a little bit more my tennis and maybe next year I will win these matches.” All 12 games of the third set went with serve, ensuring an all-or-nothing tie-break. Rafael Nadal will not be carrying home any fond memories from his trips to London this year after he became the first player to be knocked out of the ATP World Tour Finals Wednesday. Five months after limping out of Wimbledon without defending his title due to aching knees, the Spaniard bore little resemblance to the player who once terrorised his opponents as he slumped to a 6-1, 7-6 defeat by Russia's Nikolay Davydenko. “I fought a lot. I tried my best all the time but it wasn't enough to win these matches. That's it, no?” summed up Nadal, who lost both of his Group B clashes in straight sets. Bhupathi-Knowles in semis India's Mahesh Bhupathi and his partner Mark Knowles went through Thursday to the last four of the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals despite losing their final group match. Third seeds Bhupathi and his Bahamian doubles partner lost 6-4, 7-6 (11/9) to top seeds Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia at London's O2 Arena in their Group A match. Meanwhile in Group B, Bhupathi's compatriot and former doubles partner Leander Paes, playing with the Czech Republic's Lukas Dlouhy, are out of the picture having lost the first two of their three round-robin matches. The French and US Open champions face Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in their final match Friday.
