Russia`s Nikolay Davydenko said that Roger Federer was still the player he feared the most, maintaining that the younger generation had yet to make their mark.

Davydenko, who routed 20-year-old Argentine Juan Martin del Potro to reach the Masters Cup semi-finals here, said the Swiss ex-number one remained the standard.

`Federer was number one and he plays the best tennis I`ve seen. But the other guys I don`t see really, not yet,` he said. `Maybe in the future they`re coming.`

In-form Briton Andy Murray leads the new crop of players with del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gilles Simon also making their debuts at the eight-man season finale here.

`New generation? I don`t know,` Davydenko said. `I`m 27 and these guys are 22, 21, 20. It`s five, six years younger. But I think tennis is not different at the moment.

`I know these guys have a good baseline game, they run all match and they concentrate well. But I don`t see any change, you know, in tennis in the moment.`

The Russian will play the winner of Federer`s match with Andy Murray later in Saturday`s semis, but he said he would rather face the 21-year-old Scot.

`I`ve got much better results against Murray because I`ve won a match and lost a match against him this year,` Davydenko said.

`Against Federer I`m 12-0. I`ve never won. It`s a different situation. Against Murray I have more chance.`

He added that he wanted to make his mark in the Grand Slams next year after reaching four major semi-finals in nearly three-and-a-half years in the top 10.

`I don`t just want to stay top-five. I want to prove something,` he said.

`I want to get a good result in a Grand Slam. I`ve got to semi-finals but I want to get to a final.`