Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka beat David Nalbandian by 7-6,6-2, now nalbandian is out of Masters Cup Race. Nalbandian pulled off a shock victory over Roger Federer in Sunday's Madrid Masters final.
"It was a win for Roger and for me," Wawrinka told reporters. "I spoke to Roger after the Basel draw was made and he told me to win this one."
The opening set was close with both players saving one break point to line up a tiebreak won 7-5 by Wawrinka.
The world number 35 then broke serve twice in the second set to earn a meeting with Czech fifth seed Tomas Berdych, who put out Spain's Feliciano Lopez 7-6 3-6 6-3.
"It was a great match for me and I was very happy with how I served. I'm sure Roger will be just as happy with the way I played as with the result itself." American fourth seed James Blake stayed on course for a place at the season-ending Masters Cup in Shanghai with a 6-3 6-4 win over Spain's Oscar Hernandez.
