The battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking will go on until at least Saturday.
Andy Murray joined Novak Djokovic in the semis at the World Tour Finals when he beat Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 6-2 on Friday afternoon at the O2 Arena. Murray fought the only two break points he faced and capitalized on three of seven break chances before advancing in one hour and 26 minutes.
For the first 30 minutes, at least, it was not as simple as the scoreline suggested. Wawarinka stormed out of the gates on fire, blasting winners from all directions. The third-ranked Swiss fired 13 winners in the first three games of the match. In his first three service games he crushed 15 winners. Solid serving by Murray, however, kept the Scot on even terms and his ever-present defense eventually forced his opponent to crack and donate serve at 3-3.
Wawrinka survived another difficult service game at 3-5 by fending off three set points, but Murray served it out in routine fashion at 5-4.
The single victorious set allowed the world No. 1 to secure a spot in the semifinals, but the top position out of Group A remained up for grabs.
It wasn’t up for grabs long. Murray raced through the second with breaks in the first and third games, which preceded Wawrinka destroying two rackets one right after the other. London’s top seed had to save break points on his own serve at 1-0 and 3-0 but wrapped up victory with an easy hold to 15 at 5-2. He converted his first match point when Wawrinka shanked a forehand into the seats.
“I think kind of I weathered the early storm a little bit,” Murray explained. “I mean, Stan came out hitting the ball huge. He was hitting a lot of winners; a lot of aces…. But once I got through the early part of the match, I started to create chances in most of his service games. I served very well myself. I got a lot of free points with my serve. That allowed me to also dictate a lot of the points, whereas at the beginning of the match I wasn’t able to do that.”
“I tried everything today,” said Wawrinka. “I played against someone who was way better than me today. I have to accept it. I still enjoyed the week. I think it’s still a big chance for me to be here; I’m always happy to come back to World Tour Finals. That’s always something amazing for my career. Hopefully I can be back next year.”
Murray will face Milos Raonic, who finished second in Group B, on Saturday afternoon. Djokovic will featured in the night session against Kei Nishikori.
Whichever man–Murray or Djokovic–fares better from this point forward will finish the year No. 1 in the world. If they both lose in the semifinals, Murray remains atop the rankings.
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