SHANGHAI, Nov. 15 (Xinhua) -- Inspired Nikolay Davydenko beat groggy Andy Murray 7-5, 6-2 to reach the Masters Cup final on Saturday.

    The Briton paid heavily for Friday's epic victory over Roger Federer and was visibly exhausted when playing against Davydenko and was broken in the twelfth game of the first set.

    The Russian continued to batter Murray from the baseline and the Scot succumbed as Davydenko secured the double break to wrap up the match.

    Davydenko will face Novak Djokovic, who beat Gilles Simon, in Sunday's final.

    It brings to and end a stellar season for Murray, who has risen from 11th to fourth in the world rankings, won his first two Masters Series titles, reached a first Grand Slam final at the US Open, and for the first time was playing in the season-ending Masters Cup, where he was unbeaten in his three group matches.

    In Saturday's first semi-final, World number three Djokovic lost the first set but clawed his way back, securing victory in two hours and 51 minutes 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

    Simon simply would not give up against the Australian Open champion, clawing his way back from an early break in the final set to level at 5-5 after Djokovic failed to serve out for the match.

    But the Serb showed all his quality to break back immediately, and this time he made no mistake, finishing off the plucky Frenchman with an audacious drop-shot to clinch the win.

    Simon had gained an early break in the opening set and forced Djokovic to save four set points on his own serve at 3-5 before the improving world number nine served out for the lead in 47 minutes.

    But it was a mistake from Simon in an otherwise high-class second set that set up the decider - the Frenchman double-faulting on break point to gift his opponent a 3-1 lead that he was unable to retrieve.

    Djokovic dominated the final set, pressuring the Simon delivery on numerous occasions, breaking in the third game and threatening to run away with it, but Simon saved break points in the fifth game and had to come from behind again in the seventh to stay in it.

    But somehow he levelled the match with the Serb feeling the heat, double-faulting to relinquish the advantage after battling back from 15-40.

    But he continued to work his opponent over and Djokovic finally came through, converting the first of two match points.

    "This match was so long, so there are so many things to say," said the vanquished Simon. "But the only thing is he was very aggressive, more than me. He was a little bit lucky sometimes, touching many lines, and finally he won the match."