Shanghai  - Roger Federer said he remains convinced he was flirting with a tennis miracle in a fighting defeat against Andy Murray at the Masters Cup, which ended his season.

Failing to reach the semi-finals for the first time in seven appearances at the year-end tournament meant the Swiss player had to swallow a bitter defeat as he saved seven match points before losing to Murray for the third time in four 2008 meetings.

Shanghai - Roger Federer saved an heroic match points as he fought for his life only to fall from the group stage for the first time in his career at the Masters Cup to end the season on a disheartening note on Friday.

Andy Murray's 4-6, 7-6 (7-3), 7-5 comeback win over the four-time champion lifted French debutant Gilles Simon into the weekend semi-finals along with the Scot.

Murray will play Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday while Simon faces Novak Djokovic.

Shanghai - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga claimed his third revenge win in two months over Novak Djokovic as he produced a 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 Gold group comeback to spoil the Serbs hopes for a perfect record on Thursday at the Masters Cup.

The 23-year-old Tsonga is out of consideration for a semi-final spot, but earned a moral victory over the man who beat him in the Australian Open final in January. Djokovic ended with a 2-1 mark.

Shanghai - ATP executive candidate Brad Drewitt on Thursday defended the decision to increase the 2009 player workload in exchange for more prize money after Andy Roddick charged that an over-heated schedule is leading to injuries on court.

Roddick withdrew with some frustration on Wednesday after rolling his ankle in training and handing a spot in the eight-man Masters Cup wrap-up event to alternate Radek Stepanek.

London, Nov. 13: Britain’s Andy Murray has said that he aims to dump Roger Federer out of the Masters Cup in Shanghai tomorrow to get his hands on a one million pound paycheck.

The Brit faces the Swiss star in the final group game with a semi-final spot already in the bag.

Federer will be out if he loses and Murray has admitted: “I’d like to knock him out of the competition.”

Murray, 21, was quoted by The Sun as saying: “I’ll try and beat Federer. Ideally I’d like to knock him out. I’d rather not have to play him twice in one week. Any time you play Federer, probably the greatest player of all time, it is disrespectful if you don’t try to win.”

Shanghai  - Former Argentine tennis player Guillermo Vilas plans to attend the Davis Cup final pitting Argentina against Spain next week in the Argentine city of Mar del Plata, where Vilas himself grew up.

"Yes, I am heading there," Vilas said Wednesday in Shanghai, where he was attending the Masters Cup. "I do not know when. I am returning to Buenos Aires Friday or Saturday, but I do not know when I will be arriving in Mar del Plata."

Vilas, 56, a myth of Argentine tennis, won two editions of the Australian Open, one French Open and one US Open, as well as a Masters.