Roger Federer equaled Ivan Lendl's record of 12 semifinal appearances at the ATP Finals without stepping on court as Kei Nishikori defeated David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in his final round-robin match on Thursday.
Nishikori had to wait for the outcome of the late match between Federer and Andy Murray to know if he made it to the last four, but Ferrer sent Federer through by winning the first set.
Ferrer, who replaced the injured Milos Raonic on Thursday, took advantage of Nishikori's 18 unforced errors in the first set and made the decisive break in the 10th game when the Japanese player netted an easy smash.
But Nishikori, who hit 41 winners and won 80 percent of his first service points, recovered to break at the start of the second set and serving out to even the set score, making it the first match at the tournament to go to three sets following eight one-sided encounters.
The fourth-seeded Nishikori left the court briefly after the second set but won four consecutive games upon his return. He saved five break points in the sixth game before holding his serve with a forehand drop shot winner.
Ferrer missed out on qualifying for the ATP Finals after his loss to Nishikori in the Paris Masters quarterfinals last month. He trained in London this week, and said stepping in for Raonic at the last minute did not pose a problem despite articular problems in his back.
"My condition was perfect today, Kei was just better," said Ferrer, the 2007 runner-up.
Nishiroki's three-set victory complicated Murray's task, with the home favorite forced to beat the in-form Federer in two sets to advance.
The seventh-seeded Raonic withdrew with a muscle injury after losing his two group matches in straight sets.
"As badly as I wanted to play, you've got to be at the top of your game here, and I couldn't be close to that today," the big-serving Canadian said. "Wouldn't have been fair to the fans if I had played a mediocre match or had to stop."
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