Djokovic downs Soderling in Paris Masters

But having lost all four of his previous encounters with the young Serb, the Swede knew he would have to produce something special.

Novak Djokovic wrecked Robin Soderling's hopes of a first-ever appearance in the ATP World Tour Finals by beating him 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 in the Paris Masters quarter-finals on Friday.

Soderling, who made the final of the French Open the last time he played in Paris in June, went into the match knowing that he needed to at least reach the final here to clinch the eighth and final spot in the season-ending tournament which takes place in London from November 22-29.

But having lost all four of his previous encounters with the young Serb, the Swede knew he would have to produce something special.

Djokovic broke first in the third game to move out into a 3-1 lead, using the drop shot to destabilise an opponent who preferred to let loose with his trademark forehand drives from the baseline.

Soderling was carving out break points galore but failing to take them against the third seed until he finally bagged one to level at 4-4, running down another Djokovic drop shot to whip the ball past him.

The next game, however, saw him gift three unforced errors in a row to Djokovic who broke for the second time and then served out for the set.

It was Soderling, though, who dominated the start of the second set using his big forehand and heavy serve to full advantage as he jumped out into a 3-0 lead.

A further break in the sixth game was enough to ensure Soderling worked his way back to level terms as his opponent looked to be wilting.

Djokovic, last year's Tour Finals winner in Shanghai, found his serve under threat again at the start of the deciding set but dug deep to hold on.

Games continued to go with serve with neither man blinking in what had developed into a tense encounter until the eighth game when two unforced errors on the backhand side followed by a double fault from Soderling gave Djokovic three break points.

Soderling saved the first of these, but then netted a weak backhand to hand the break to the third seed who made no mistake in serving out for the match.

It was the first time that Djokovic has reached the last four in Paris and he will meet the winner of the match opposing title-holder Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France and second seed Rafael Nadal of Spain.

To go any further though, he will need to fight off the fatigue that is setting in on him after a hectic year.

- I've been playing more than 90 matches this year and now two weeks in a row - he said.

- Suddenly my metabolism is getting a little bit tired. It's all normal.

- I just hope that I can recover for the upcoming challenge. -

The remaining spot in the Tour Finals will go to Fernando Verdasco of Spain, who lost here on Thursday, unless Tsonga successfully defends his title on Sunday.