SHANGHAI, Nov 13: Russia’s Nikolay Davydenko thrashed young Argentine Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets to storm into the Masters Cup semi-finals on Thursday.

The world number five, who is playing his fourth consecutive season finale and also reached the 2005 semis, broke the 20-year-old del Potro twice in each set to win 6-3, 6-2 in 86 minutes.

Davydenko takes second place in Gold Group behind Novak Djokovic, who was beaten by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earlier, while del Potro can look forward to next week’s Davis Cup final against Spain.

“I feel great. I thought I had a chance to beat Djokovic but I didn’t, so today was my last chance to get to the semi-finals,” Davydenko said. “I saw del Potro was nervous in the first set and in the second set he lost a bit of concentration and made more mistakes.”

In an attritional first set of strenuous rallies, Davydenko, 27, got the decisive break at 5-3 and went ahead with a service winner.

Del Potro has been playing with a painful toenail injury since the US Open, and he struggled in the second as Davydenko broke twice and served it out for victory.

“I was playing against the world number five, so it was tough but I’m happy I played here and I have good things to look forward to next week,” said the Argentine, referring to the Davis Cup final.

“I’m very happy to play my first Masters Cup. It was a good experience for me and I think with more experience I’ll play better next year.”

Earlier, France’s Tsonga shocked the third-ranked Djokovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 to exit the tournament on a high.

Tsonga, who was already eliminated after losing his first two matches, was woeful in the first set, but he came out fighting to edge the second and dominated the decider.

The result further avenges Tsonga’s Australian Open final loss to Djokovic and gives him three wins in a row over the Serb after victories in Bangkok and Paris.

“He was better than me in the first two sets, but I took the second one. It was daylight robbery!” Tsonga stated. “And then for him maybe it was difficult to stay concentrated because he’s qualified and he has to think about the next match.”

Djokovic, 21, had won his first two matches and he looked odds-on for the third as he rattled through the first set in just 25 minutes.

But Tsonga rallied and broke for the first time for the second set. The Frenchman showed brilliant form in the final set, breaking twice before finishing it with a lob on match point.

“It’s not easy. This is the tournament for the best eight players in the world. Every match is difficult and you’ve got to give your best to win,” Djokovic said.

“He had more support from the crowd, but I don’t blame them. He’s a good player, an interesting player, plays with a lot of emotion. He deserved to win today.”

Djokovic and Davydenko will face two players out of Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Gilles Simon in Saturday’s semi-finals.

Two-time defending champion Federer needs to beat Murray on Friday to stay in the competition, while Gilles Simon of France will play Czech alternate Radek Stepanek.

Federer, 27, is bidding to become only the third player to win five year-end titles after Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. Lendl completed the last hat-trick in 1987.

Results (round robin):

Gold group: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) bt Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 1,6, 7-5, 6-1; Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) bt Juan Martin del Potro (Argentina) 6-3, 6-2.—AFP