LONDON: Rafael Nadal was sent crashing out of the ATP World Tour Finals in a straight sets defeat to last year's finalist Nikolay Davydenko while Robin Soderling claimed his second big scalp as the Swede defeated reigning champion Novak Djokovic 7-6 (7/5), 6-1 to reach the semi-finals on Wednesday. The Russian won 6-1, 7-6 (7/4) in an hour and 47 minutes to send the Spanish world No 2 tumbling out of the season-ending championships at the group stage. Davydenko's powerful, accurate ground strokes tore Nadal's game apart in the opening set, and though the Australian Open champion recovered some form in the 80-minute second set, it was too late to stop the world No 7 from claiming victory. Nadal went into the match with a 4-3 lead over Davydenko, though the Russian had won their previous three meetings on hard courts -- including a 7-6 (7/3), 6-3 win in the Shanghai final last month. The first set saw Nadal's game destroyed by his opponent, who dominated the play with his impressive shot-making, sending the left-hander scampering round the court. Soderling, meanwhile, is only competing in this prestigious season finale because of an injury to Andy Roddick, but his victory over Rafael Nadal in his opening match made it clear he is determined to take advantage of his good fortune. The 25-year-old, ranked ninth in the world, underlined the point by making Djokovic the latest victim of his impressive form this season. Soderling, who ended Nadal's four-year reign as French Open champion with a shock win en route to the final earlier this year, had lost his five past meetings with Djokovic, with his most recent defeat to the Serb coming just two weeks ago in the Paris Masters. That run came to an end in emphatic fashion in this Group B clash. In the final round of Group B games, Davydenko plays Soderling while Nadal takes on Djokovic.