Andy Murray guaranteed his place at the World Tour Finals on Thursday while Roger Federer joined him in the Paris Masters quarter-finals to keep his quest for the No.1 spot alive.
Murray played almost flawless tennis as he breezed to a 6-3 6-3 third-round victory over Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.
The 27-year-old Scot, who also stays on course for a fourth tournament victory in just six weeks, will now play either world No.1 Novak Djokovic or French showman Gael Monfils on Friday for a semi-final place.
Murray joins Djokovic, Federer, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic in reaching the season-ending showpiece in London with David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori in possession of the other three spots but not yet assured places.
Canada’s Milos Raonic is now the only player who can gatecrash the top eight but needs to win the Paris tournament to guarantee his place.
Federer kept the pressure on Djokovic in the race for the year-ending No.1 spot with a gritty 6-4 6-4 victory over French world No.176 Lucas Pouille.
A crucial break for the 17-time grand slam winner in the seventh game of the second set, the longest of the match, paved the way for victory over Pouille, who came through as a qualifier and had only recorded one Tour-level win before Paris this week.
It was Federer’s 14th straight victory and sets up a quarter-final matchup against Raonic.
“It was a difficult match against an opponent who had nothing to lose but I played well even if he put me under pressure and I’m very satisfied,” said Federer.
“I feel pretty good and fresh in my head despite a lot of matches lately so now looking forward to tomorrow (Friday).”
Murray aimed a humourous retort at critics who have accused him of having had a poor season by writing “Bad Year!” on the courtside camera lens after his match.
“No, it wasn’t a jibe, it’s a bit of fun,” Murray said.
“I mean, if people are going to ask me all the time why I’ve had such a poor year by my standards, then, yeah, you’re allowed sometimes to say something in response to that.”
