Victory sees Murray boost ATP finals hope
BRITAIN’S Andy Murray boosted his chances reaching the ATP World Tour Finals in London after recovering from a set down to beat David Ferrer in the Erste Open final in Vienna yesterday.
The 27-year-old broke his rival three times in the final set to claim a 5-7, 6-2, 7-5 victory in two hours and 42 minutes and secure only his second title of the year and his first win over a top-eight opponent since lifting the 2013 Wimbledon title.
Murray also stole a march on Ferrer by collecting 250 qualifying points and moving ahead of his rival into eighth place in the Race to London standings with just two ranking events in Valencia and Paris to play.
“It was an extremely difficult match,” said Murray. “He deserved to win the first set, I deserved the second and the third could have gone either way, it was extremely close at the end and I just managed to get through.
“We played two really close matches, David won last week in Shanghai and whoever qualifies for the finals will deserve it.
“It is the best players over the 12 months so we will see in the next weeks but it is going to be close. Every tournament right now is very important.”
Six players are chasing three remaining places for the season-ending showdown at the O2 Arena with world No1 Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Stanislas Wawrinka already guaranteed a spot.
Croatia’s Marin Cilic is currently sixth on the list behind Japan’s Kei Nishikori but has earned a place by virtue of winning the US Open at Flushing Meadows last month.
Murray’s next engagement is the Valencia Open where 500 qualifying points are up for grabs before switching his attentions to Paris where 1000 points are on offer for the winner.
Czech star Tomas Berdych, meanwhile, also enhanced his chances of making the finals by beating Grigor Dimitrov 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 at the Stockholm Open to consolidate seventh position in the rankings.