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 play and is battling Novak Djokovic to become the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Murray leads Wawrinka 9-7 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head, with their lone meeting in 2016 coming in the Roland Garros semi-finals. Wawrinka won their round-robin clash at The O2 last year 7-6(4), 6-4.
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"All I know is if I want to have a chance to qualify, I need to win," said Wawrinka. “That's all I'm trying to do. I'm going to try to play my best tennis, to beat the World No. 1. It's going to be a tough match. We played many times against each other. He's playing his best tennis so far. It's going to be interesting. I'm happy to play here in front of his home crowd. I'm sure it's going to be a great atmosphere.”
Chances were few in the first set, but Cilic was able to create one set point opportunity at 5-4, with Wawrinka serving at 30/40. In the tie-break, Wawrinka won six of the first eight and hit 12 winners and committed 11 unforced errors on his forehand in the 55-minute opener. Cilic won 86 per cent of his first service points.
Cilic got off to the best possible start to the second set by breaking Wawrinka to 30 in the opening game, but the Croatian’s lead was short-lived. Wawrinka began to control the baseline, forcing Cilic deeper and to play more backhand strokes. Cilic could not convert two break points in the fifth game, and was left to rue missed opportunities. In the inevitable tie-break, Wawrinka gained a 4/2 advantage and with pin-point serving calmly closed out his 11th victory in 13 meetings against Cilic.
Wawrinka has reached the semi-finals at the season finale, at The O2 in London, in each of the past three years. He improved to a 46-17 match record on the season, which includes four titles.
"In the first set, I obviously had a set point," said Cilic. "A second serve, I missed the return there. In the tie-breaks, I felt I lost a couple points that I could have won as well. Just few points that went on his side could also have gone to my side."
Cilic, now 0-2 in group play this year, will seek his first victory on the indoor court in east London against Kei Nishikori. No player in the group has done enough to qualify for the semi-finals.