SHANGHAI, China — Gilles Simon beat Radek Stepanek 6-1, 6-4 Friday at the Masters Cup but will have to wait and see if he advances to the semifinals.

Simon's match was essentially meaningless because Roger Federer was scheduled to face Andy Murray in the later match. Federer, a four-time Masters Cup champion, needed to beat Murray to advance.

If Federer loses, Simon would make it through, regardless of what he had done against Stepanek. Simon beat Federer in their opening Red Group match.

The 26th-ranked Stepanek — added to the eight-man draw when Andy Roddick pulled out Wednesday with a sprained ankle — already had been eliminated.

"It was easier tonight because my match was not really important," said the ninth-ranked Simon, who got in when a sore knee forced top-ranked Rafael Nadal to pull out of the season-ending tournament before it began.

Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko have qualified from the Gold Group.

Stepanek was out of sorts from the beginning. The Czech player got in only three first serves in his first three service games, double-faulting three times. He won just 13 points in seven games in the 25-minute first set — and eight of those were on unforced errors by Simon.

Another double-fault set up Simon's third service break to open the second set. The Frenchman, who never faced breakpoint, then held the rest of the way.

The crowd, hoping Stepanek could make a match of it, were cheering loudly on every point he won, but there were too few. On match point, he returned a serve at his body with his racket in front of his face, and when Simon pounded a deep approach shot, Stepanek hit a one-bouncer into the net.