Murray digs deep to send Federer out

It remains to be seen whether he has damaged his chances of claiming the biggest prize of his career, but Andy Murray could take pride in winning one of the matches of the season last night. The 21-year-old Scot had already qualified for the semi-finals of the Tennis Masters Cup but still gave his all in a three-hour thriller to beat Roger Federer 4-6, 7-6, 7-5.

The only disappointment was that this was not the final. Federer, who needed on-court treatment on three occasions for a back injury, showed great courage in coming back from 0-3 down in the final set and saving seven match points, but was beaten by a player who has been in the form of his life over the past three months. "It was a great match, probably one of the best I've ever been in," Murray said.

The world No 4, who joined Rafael Nadal and David Nalbandian as the only players to beat Federer three times in a year, will now have to dig deep for his semi-final today against Nikolay Davydenko. Novak Djokovic meets Gilles Simon in the other match.

This is the first time since 2001 that the last four does not include Federer, who has won the season-ending showpiece four times in the past five years and appeared in the last five finals. Murray would have played Djokovic had he lost, but beating Federer meant there would be no chance of meeting him again in tomorrow's final.

A raucous crowd in the 15,000-capacity Qi Zhong Stadium saw a classic confrontation between the game's best attacking player and its best defensive strategist. Conscious of his back problem, Federer went for his shots with even greater panache in an attempt to shorten the points.

Federer took the first set with a masterful game, breaking Murray to love, but in the second the Scot went two breaks up to lead 5-2. Federer fought back to force a tie-break, but lost it 7-3 after a succession of outstanding rallies.

The Swiss seemed to be on the point of quitting when he trailed 3-0 in the final set, but, incredibly, won the next four games in a blaze of attacking strokeplay. When he served at 4-5 he saved seven match points in an extraordinary game of 26 points that lasted 17 minutes. However, the effort seemed to drain the world No 2, who wilted under Murray's barrage of attacking shots from the baseline two games later.

"I won't know how much it's taken out of me until tomorrow, but it was a great match, with so many twists and turns," Murray said. "In the second and third sets you never knew what was going to happen. There were some amazing points in the second set tie-break and I had that feeling that it was going to be one of those matches that would go right to the wire."

"Psychologically a win like that is going to be huge for me next time I play him, especially in big matches. Although I'm probably going to be a bit tired tomorrow, a win against him in a match like that is similar to winning the Masters Cup. He's one of the greatest players of all time."

Federer said his week had been "really difficult" because of both the back injury and a stomach upset that had dragged him down, but added that he had never contemplated retiring. "I don't quit once I step on court," he said.

Murray is two victories away from earning $1.59m (£1.07m) here. By winning all three of his group matches the Scot has already won $300,000 in prize money to add to his $100,000 participation fee and $250,000 bonus for appearing as the year-ending world No 4. He can earn $315,000 for beating Davydenko and $625,000 by winning tomorrow's final. Murray has won three and lost three against Davydenko, who won in straight sets when they last met, in Dubai, in March.