Andy Murray clinched a spot in the semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Finals and kept pace with Novak Djokovic in the battle for the year-end No. 1 ranking with a straight-sets win over Stan Wawrinka on Friday in London.
Murray, who entered the round-robin tournament with a slim lead in the world rankings, pulled ahead slightly again with the win and will finish No. 1 if both men fall in the semifinals. A meeting in the finals would mark the first time in tournament history that the winner will take the No. 1 spot.
The win over Wawrinka marked the 22nd straight match victory for Murray, equaling his career best. The Brit took the first break point in the seventh game of the first match and went on to a 6-4, 6-2 victory to conclude group play.
"Stan's one of the best players in the world," Murray said on court. "When he plays his best tennis, he's unplayable. When the ball was there to be attacked, I did it. I played a very solid match."
Murray will take on Canada's Milos Raonic in the semifinal. Raonic fell to Djokovic 6-7 (6), 6-7 (5) in his first match but recovered with wins over Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem to earn his spot in the semifinals.
Raonic lost to Murray in the Wimbledon final earlier this year and has dropped eight straight in the series, including a walkover in the semifinals at the World Tour Masters 1000 in Paris earlier this month.
Djokovic will face Kei Nishikori in his semifinal.
Nishikori fell 6-3, 2-6, 3-6 to Croatian Marin Cilic in the final round-robin match on Friday but still advanced to the semifinals by finishing second to Murray in the John McEnroe group. Cilic recorded 16 aces to one for Nishikori and earned a pair of service breaks in the final set to close out the match.
Nishikori is going up against Djokovic for the sixth time in 2016, dropping each of the first five matches. Djokovic topped Nishikori in the finals of the World Master 1000 in Canada and World Masters 1000 in Miami and dropped only one set in the five meetings.
