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Robin Soderling is proving to be the man to beat at the ATP World Tour Finals in London. The 25-year old Swede followed up his straight sets demolition of Rafa Nadal in his opening match of the tournament with another straight sets win over 3rd seed Novak Djokovic on Wednesday. In the evening session matters took a turn for the worse for Nadal as he crashed to another defeat, this time at the hands of Russian Nikolay Davydenko effectively ending his challenge at this event.

Soderling, incredibly comfortable on the fast indoor courts at the O2 Arena, came into his match with Djokovic never having beaten the Serb in five previous meetings. A visibly tired looking Djokovic took to the court seemingly drained from his marath on three-setter with Davydenko earlier in the week. Djokovic was always a step off the pace in this contest and was highly irritable right through the match even by his standards.

There were no breaks in an hour and 8 minute long opening set with the players saving 5 break points between them including three set points that Djokovic saved when serving at 4-5 0-40. The Serb-anator found the range on his serve to pull him out of a tight spot and the set duly headed into a tiebreak which too was a tight affair, After trading mini-breaks early on, Soderling picked up a crucial point against the serve for 6-4 after playing a brilliant tactical point finishing it with a cool volley that would have done his compatriot Stefan Edberg proud. A service winner wrapped up the breaker 7-4 in favour of the world no.9.

The second set was one way traffic as Djokovic folded rather cheaply, losing 6 games on the trot in less than half an hour. The final score in favour of the super Swede 7-6, 6-1, and a 4-0 sets record guaranteeing Soderling a place in the semi-finals irrespective of how his final round-robin match turns out.

Rafa Nadal meanwhile has lost the air of invincibility that saw him finish 2008 as the world no.1. He ran into a highly motivated Davydenko, who like Nadal had also lost his opening match of the tournament, and was keen to make amends. The Russian was quick out of the blocks and broke Nadal's opening service game to nudge ahead 2-0 lead. A second break of serve, this time to love gave Davydenko a 5-1 lead, and the Russian made it 10 straight points to close out the opening set in no time at all.

Nadal was made to work incredibly hard to stay in touching distance at the start of the second, saving breakpoints in his first two service games before finally capitulating in his third. A bout of nerves saw Davydenko conceded three break points in the following game, but he rallied back to hold serve for a 4-2 lead. Nadal however continued to fight despite the lack of form on the night and was rewarded with a break back in the 8th game as Davydenko hit a groundstroke long.

Davydenko broke Nadal's serve once again for a 6-5 lead, but the Spaniard came back strongly again to force the set into a tiebreak. The breaker was a thriller, perhaps more exciting than the match itself with both players pulling out all the stops. Like the second set, Davydenko went up a minibreak twice only for Nadal to claw his way back. There were two phenomenal rallies in the tiebreak, bringing the crowd to their feet, but an error from Nadal gave the Russian a 6-4 lead, and he promptly settled the contest on his first matchpoint with a forehand winner to record an incredible 6-1, 7-6 (4) win.

The final set of Group B matches on Friday will see Djokovic battle Nadal in the afternoon. Novak needs a win to keep the pressure on Davydenko, who takes on Soderling in the night session.

In Group B Doubles action, the Bryan twins kept their hopes of ending the year as the world no.1 doubles pair alive with a comfortable straight sets win over French and US Open champions Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, 6-3, 6-4. The Indo-Czech pair slipped to their second successive defeat in the competition and are virtually eliminated from the competition.

In easily the match of the day,Lukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach saved three match points enroute to beating Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram 4-6, 6-4 16-14 to go to a 2-0 record in Group B. Mirnyi and Ram are still in with more than a fair chance of qualifying for the semi finals and will take of Dlouhy and Paes in their final round robin match on Friday.

Thursday promises to be another thrilling day of action as Roger Federer takes on Juan Martin del Potro in a rematch of the US Open final. Federer can exact some measure of revenge for that defeat by knocking the young Argentine out of this tournament. That match will be preceded by Andy Murray and Fernando Verdasco with both players still having plenty at stake in the year end tennis finale. Verdasco needs to win this match to have a shot at the semi-finals; if Murray wins, Verdasco is out of contention, but that doesn't mean Murray has secured a spot just yet. Federer is not assured of his place in the semi-finals just yet, though, as he, Murray and Del Potro could all tie with a 2-1 match record in Group A - should Del Potro defeat Federer and Murray beat Verdasco. If there is a three-way tie then the first criteria to break the deadlock is sets won-lost. Coming into the final round-robin set of matches, Federer was 4-2 while del Potro and Murray were 3-3 in sets won-lost so far.

In Group A doubles matches, top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic will take on No. 3 seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles in the afternoon session, while No. 5 seeds Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak meet No. 8 seeds Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the evening session. Nestor and Zimonjic are 0-2 in the group and out of semi-final contention while Bhupathi and Knowles are 2-0 and already into the semi-finals; Cermak/Mertinak and Fyrstenberg/Matkowski are both 1-1 so far. The winner will qualify into the semi-finals.

Wednesday Scores:

N Davydenko d R Nadal 61 76(4)
R Soderling d N Djokovic 76(5) 61

Doubles
B Bryan / M Bryan d L Dlouhy / L Paes 63 64
L Kubot / O Marach d M Mirnyi / A Ram 46 64 16-14

Thursday's Order of Play:

D Nestor / N Zimonjic vs. M Bhupathi / M Knowles
A Murray vs. F Verdasco
F Cermak / M Mertinak vs. M Fyrstenberg / M Matkowski
R Federer vs. JM del Potro

File Photograph: Madrid Masters