Intro:

Kei Nishikori beat David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals on Thursday, with Ferrer's set win sending Roger Federer into the semi-finals.

Script:

Roger Federer equalled Ivan Lendl's record of 12 semi-final appearances at the ATP Finals without stepping on court on Thursday as Kei Nishikori defeated David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in his final round-robin match.

Nishikori will have to wait for the outcome of the later match between Federer and Britain's Andy Murray to know if he makes 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.

Nishikori broke at the start of the second set before holding comfortably to level the score at one set apiece, making it the first match at this year's tournament to go to three sets following a run of eight one-sided encounters.

However, the fourth-seed Nishikori continued his momentum in the third and took the set comfortably 6-1.

Nishikori's three-set victory complicates Murray's task, with the home favourite now forced to beat the in-form Federer in two sets to advance.