The World No. 5 Davydenko, who is making his fourth straight appearance at the prestigious circuit finale, held strong to prevail 6-7 (7-6), 6-4, 7-6 (7-0).

Tsonga won a tight first set on a tie-break as Davydenko's high back hand volley found the net.

But Davydenko hit back, stealing the second set with a marvelous backhand return winner up the line off a kicking Tsonga serve delivered with the Le Mans native trailing 4-5, 30-40.

Davydenko was quick to seize the initiative in the final set by racing to a 3-0 lead.

The 27-year-old looked to be on the verge of victory as he earned match point with Tsonga trailing 2-5, but the Frenchman played a daring drop shot, won the point and consequently the next three games to level at 5-5.

However, the recent BNP Paribas Masters champion could not see out the victory, making a series of errors in the tie-break that Davydenko capitalized on to triumph after two hours and 43 minutes.