Juan Martin Del Potro saw his chances of reaching the ATP World Finals dented with defeat in the semi-finals of the Valencia Open.

The Argentine, who would have moved into ninth place in the standings for the season-ending event in London had he reached Sunday's final, instead lost 6-4 7-6 to Marcel Granollers of Spain.

Only the top eight in the list play in the round-robin event and Del Potro must now do well at next week's Paris Masters if he is to vault himself into the line-up.

His defeat means Tomas Berdych becomes the sixth man to be confirmed in the London showpiece with two more places up for grabs.

The 2009 US Open champion, runner-up to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga last week in Vienna, had looked to be getting back to something near his best after more than eight months out last year with a wrist injury.

But he saw Granollers come out on top in a close encounter with the Spaniard taking on either defending champion David Ferrer or Argentine wildcard Juan Monaco in the final.

It has been another dream run to the final for the world number 54 a year after he lost to Ferrer in the final.

The 25-year-old Catalan player had already beaten seventh-seed Alexandr Dolgopolov in the first round and third-seed Gael Monfils in the last eight.

"I didn't think about reaching the final," Granollers said. "I just focused on the game at hand. I am very happy with how the tournament is going."

Source: 

http://www1.skysports.com/tennis/news/12110/7293813/Del-Potro-denied-by-Granollers