LONDON -- Roger Federer blew away Andy Murray 6-0, 6-1 to finish the ATP Finals round-robin unbeaten, and hand Murray his worst defeat in seven years in front of his home crowd on Thursday.
Federer, the most successful player at the year-end championship with six titles, equaled Ivan Lendl's record of 12 semifinal appearances in winning his group ahead of Japanese debutant Kei Nishikori.
It was a ruthless win for Federer, and humiliation for Murray, who last won only one game in 2007 at Miami, against Novak Djokovic.
Before playing Murray, Federer had already secured a semis berth after Nishikori defeated David Ferrer 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 in the afternoon.
That left Murray needing to defeat the 17-Grand Slam champion in straight sets to make it to the last four at the O2 Arena and thwart the Japanese newcomer.
But Federer, yet to drop a set, made a perfect start, losing only eight points in a 23-minute first set.
Murray, who fought hard this autumn to qualify for the season finale, continued to struggle in the second set but managed to hold in the sixth game to salvage some pride, and give British fans a cheer.
Nishikori, the U.S. Open runner-up, is one of the three debutants at the tournament after a breakthrough season in which he reached the final at the U.S. Open. He was rapt to advance at Ferrer's expense.
"The final set was almost perfect," said Nishikori, who hit 41 winners and won 80 percent of his first service points.
The Spaniard, who replaced the injured Milos Raonic at the last minute, 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.
But Nishikori recovered to break at the start of the second set and served out to even the set score, making it the first match at the tournament to go to three sets following eight one-sided encounters.
The fourth-seeded Nishikori won four consecutive games to start the third, and saved five break points in the sixth game before winning it with a drop shot.
Ferrer missed out on qualifying for the ATP Finals after his loss to Nishikori in the Paris Masters quarterfinals last month. He trained in London this week, and said stepping in for Raonic at the last minute did not pose a problem despite articular problems in his back.
"My condition was perfect today, Kei was just better," said Ferrer, the 2007 runner-up.
The seventh-seeded Raonic withdrew with a muscle injury after losing his two group matches in straight sets.
"As badly as I wanted to play, you've got to be at the top of your game here, and I couldn't be close to that today," the big-serving Canadian said. "Wouldn't have been fair to the fans if I had played a mediocre match or had to stop."