Stan Wawrinka out fought Marin Cilic on Wednesday night to keep alive his chances of qualifying for the semi-finals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Third seed Wawrinka, who saved one set point in the first set, earned a confidence boosting 7-6(3), 7-6(3) victory over seventh seed Cilic in one hour and 58 minutes in Group John McEnroe. "It was a great match," said Wawrinka. "I'm really happy with the way I played in general. It was a tough match, for sure - two tie-breaks. I think the level was really high… I think I was moving great. It was a great victory for me." Wawrinka will next face top seed Andy Murray, who is 2-0 in the round-robin...
Fourth seeds Feliciano Lopez/Marc Lopez produced an inspired performance on Wednesday at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, scoring their first win in Group Fleming/McEnroe in a marathon match over top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, 7-5, 5-7, 10-8. The victory by Lopez/Lopez means that fifth seeds Henri Kontinen/John Peers have qualified for the semi-finals. The Finnish-Australian pair were winners earlier in the day over seventh seeds Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram. Herbert/Mahut have also been eliminated from contention to qualify for the semi-finals. This means that second seeds Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares are in total control over whether they can finish 2016 as the year-end No. 1 doubles team. Herbert/Mahut and Lopez/Lopez traded comfortable service holds throughout most of the opening set. The...
Andy Murray dug deep to fight past Kei Nishikori 6-7(9), 6-4, 6-4 on Wednesday to improve to a 2-0 record in Group John McEnroe at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. The British favourite extended his winning streak to 21 matches and also stayed in the battle to hold off Novak Djokovic for the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Murray now has 11,585 points in the Emirates ATP Rankings, 405 points ahead of No. 2-ranked and fellow 29-year-old Djokovic (11,180 points). The Scot improved to an 8-2 FedEx ATP Head2Head record against Nishikori, with victory in three hours and 21 minutes - the longest best-of-three-sets match at the year-end championships (since 1991, when records were first kept)....
Henri Kontinen and John Peers look more and more like the doubles team to beat this week at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The fifth seeds improved to 2-0 on Wednesday, advancing past Raven Klaasen/Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-4 in 64 minutes. Kontinen/Peers saved all three break points against the South African/American pairing and remained perfect on serve at the season finale, having held all 20 service games during their two round-robin matches at The O2. The Finnish/Australian team has now won its past seven matches, dating back to its maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title run earlier this month at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris. The remainder of the week could be promising as well....
Novak Djokovic became the first player to reach the semi-finals at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after he defeated Milos Raonic 7-6(6), 7-6(5) on Tuesday for his second match win in Group Ivan Lendl. If Djokovic goes on to win the title, he will claim year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The Serbian now has 11,180 points – 70 more points ahead of Andy Murray (11,110), who will play his second round-robin match against Kei Nishikori on Wednesday. The 29 year old, who had been No. 1 for 122 consecutive weeks until 7 November, is now 29-10 at the season finale, where he is looking to capture a fifth straight trophy – and a record-equalling sixth crown...