Soderling first through to ATP semifinals

LONDON, Nov. 25 (UPI) -- Robin Soderling qualified for the semifinals and world No. 2 Rafael Nadal was eliminated Wednesday at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

Soderling was a late injury replacement in the eight-man Finals field, taking the place of Andy Roddick. He responded with a straight-set win over Nadal Monday and a 7-6 (7-5), 6-1 victory over the third-seeded Novak Djokovic Wednesday.

Soderling fired 10 aces at Djokovic and dropped just two points on serve in the second set, when he won six consecutive games. He improved to 2-0 in Group B and Djokovic dropped to 1-1.

Nikolay Davydenko took out Nadal 6-1, 7-6 (7-4), a decision that eliminated Nadal from semifinal contention. Davydenko dominated the first set, winning more points on Nadal's serve than Nadal did (8-6) and getting two service breaks.

Nadal was much more game in the second set but still wasn't as consistent as he generally is and Davydenko took advantage in the tiebreaker, evening his round-robin record at 1-1.

Group A play wraps up Thursday when Andy Murray (1-1) plays Fernando Verdasco (0-2) and Roger Federer (2-0) takes on Juan Martin del Potro (1-1). Federer's win over Murray Tuesday assured him of a year-ending world No. 1 ranking.