Shanghai: Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles of the Bahamas bowed out of the Masters Cup after losing a virtual quarter final clash to Luis Horna and Pablo Cue Vas on Thursday.

The third-seeded Indo-Bahamian pair lost their last round robin match of the Red group 7-6 (3), 6-7 (4), 5-10 (super tie-break) to the eighth seeded Peru-Uruguay duo.

Both teams had come into the match with one defeat and one victory and it was a must-win tie for either to qualify for the semi-finals.

The Indian challenge has now ended at the $4,45,000 event after Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy lost on Wednesday to miss out on a semi-final berth.

In singles play, Russian Nikolay Davydenko out-slugged Argentine Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3 6-2 in a winner-takes-all battle for a place in the semi-final.

The 27-year-old world No. 5 joined Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray in the last four, reaching the knockout stage for the second time in four appearances at the season finale.

Defending champion Roger Federer must beat Briton Murray on Friday to claim the final place in the last four, which will otherwise go to Frenchman Gilles Simon.

Del Potro, who now heads home for next week’s Davis Cup final against Spain, held his own through some long early rallies but once he lost the first set, the long season and a toe injury looked to have caught up with him and he folded.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga earlier restored some pride by coming back from a set down to beat world No. 3 Djokovic 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 in a dead rubber match in the same Gold group.

The Frenchman had lost his first two matches and looked on his way to a third defeat when Djokovic, who had already won the Gold group, took the first set in 25 minutes.

Tsonga, who had beaten Djokovic to win his first title in Bangkok in September and again on his way to winning the Paris Masters, broke the 21-year-old Serb to even the match before prevailing in a third set as one-sided as the first.

The 23-year-old Tsonga, who lost to Djokovic in the final of the Australian Open, said he was nevertheless delighted with a season when he broke into the top 10 in the world despite playing just 15 tournaments and had knee surgery in May.

“For me it’s just very good to have years like this,” he said. “With all my problems I played very well. I hope to play better next year. I’m very happy with this year.” (AGENCIES)