Russian Nikolay Davydenko beat an exhausted Andy Murray 7-5 6-2 to set up a Masters Cup final against world number three Novak Djokovic yesterday.
Briton Murray, who would have won $1.34 million if he had gone through the tournament undefeated, was clearly feeling the effects of Friday's three-hour epic victory over Roger Federer - a match he did not need to win.
Davydenko, the world number five, took full advantage to reach his first final in four appearances at the season finale and will play against Serbian Djokovic, who earlier beat Frenchman Gilles Simon 4-6 6-3 7-5.
"I was lucky Murray beat Federer yesterday," said 27-year-old Davydenko, who would have played Federer in the semis had the Swiss overcome the Scot.
"But I played very well today and won... he wanted to show he was the best player by beating Federer so maybe he was really tired."
Davydenko was well aware that Murray's previous match had finished only 20 hours before they took to the court and attacked immediately, moving the Scot around the court and clinching a break in the first game.
The 21-year-old Murray still had enough in the tank to break straight back but the Russian hassled and harried in his customary style to break again for 6-5 and a backhand winner sealed the first set in just over an hour.
With Murray now running on empty and getting irritated with his errors, Davydenko stormed to a comfortable victory. He fired 33 winners to the Briton's seven over the match and sealed it on his first match point with an ace.
"Naturally I was going to be tired, I played a long match last night but he played a lot better than me in the circumstances," said Murray, who reiterated that he had no regrets about giving his all against Federer.
Australian Open champion Djokovic made 21 errors in losing the opening set but his nerves settled after an early break in the second and he ground out a win after two hours 50 minutes.
"It's a huge success for me to reach the final," said the 21-year-old, who lost all of his matches without winning a set on his Masters Cup debut last year.
"It would be great if I can end up with the title. I didn't have such a great last couple of months of the season."
Defeat ended a fairytale ride for Simon, who won his ticket to the season finale when world number one Rafael Nadal pulled out injured and then beat defending champion Federer in a round-robin match.
"I defeated the number two, I played three sets in three hours against the number three so that'll give me confidence for next year," said the 23-year-old, who will finish the year as world number seven.
Simon said a neck problem that required a medical time-out at the start of the second set had not affected the outcome, even if he looked second best for much of the rest of the match.
Djokovic also sustained an injury to his calf muscle that required attention in the third set but fended off a late fightback to reach his sixth final of the season.
Davydenko and Djokovic have met only twice before with the Russian prevailing when the Serbian retired injured from a Davis Cup match earlier this year but losing 7-6 0-6 7-5 in a group match in Shanghai on Tuesday.