LONDON: Novak Djokovic grabbed the last semifinal spot at the ATP World Tour Finals Friday to join group winner Rafael Nadal in the knockout round. Djokovic only needed to win one set to finish second in Group A and the third-seeded Serb defeated a listless Andy Roddick 6-2, 6-3 in the final group match. Earlier, the top-ranked Nadal beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 (3), 6-1. Roddick began his match against Djokovic with an outside chance of reaching the semifinals but the eighth-ranked American was never in contention and was broken three times in a 65-minute loss. Nadal will meet Andy Murray in Saturday's first semifinal as he bids for his first title at the end-of-season tournament. Djokovic plays Roger Federer. Nadal earlier launched a furious blast at umpire Carlos Bernardes as he clinched his place in the semifinals. Nadal felt aggrieved when Brazilian official Bernardes awarded a point to Berdych after the Czech sixth seed successfully challenged a call that his shot had gone out. The Spaniard had stopped playing because Bernardes signalled the ball was out and felt the point should have been replayed. He responded to the decision with a prolonged rant at the umpire before eventually continuing the match. The controversy actually worked in Nadal's favor as he took out his frustration on Berdych to secure the set he needed to reach the last four before eventually cruising to his third successive victory at the end-of-year event at London's O2 Arena. Berdych, whose heavy defeat means he has no chance of making the last four, was unhappy with the way Nadal was allowed to complain about that line-call for several minutes. “It just shows how the referee is probably scared of him and just let him talk too long,” Berdych said. “You need to play and not be waiting and talking for three minutes. He was almost sitting there, like he's not going to play. “It's not the mistake of Rafa. It's the mistake of the referee. He needs to show him that it's not like he can do whatever he wants on the court. “When you raise your hand, that means that you stop the play. That's the reason why I was challenging the ball, because he stopped the play. “I took the challenge. The challenge was good, so the ball was good. There is no complaining about this point.” Nadal, who beat Berdych in this year's Wimbledon final, insisted he had not challenged and actually continued playing, so the point should have been replayed. “I told him (the umpire) he's wrong. That's something unbelievable. The point is still playing and I understand the rule,” Nadal said.
