Andy Murray boosted his hopes of qualifying for the World Tour Finals by defeating Canada’s Vasek Pospisil 6-4 6-4 in round two of the Vienna Open.
Murray, who received a bye in the first round, will face Germany’s Jan-Lennard Struff in the quarter-finals.
The 27-year-old Briton’s chances of reaching London next month were also lifted by defeat for Milos Raonic in round two of the Kremlin Cup.
The Canadian lost 6-3 4-6 6-3 to Lithuanian qualifier Ricardas Berankis.
Murray is 10th in the race to London, 95 points behind Raonic, and competing in Austria alongside Spain’s David Ferrer, who is ninth overall and 60 points ahead of the Scot.
The top eight players in the race qualify for the season-ending tournament.
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and US Open champion Marin Cilic have already secured their places.
Murray began slowly against Pospisil, missing several early chances before breaking for 5-4 and serving out the first set.
He let slip a 3-1 lead in the second set before finally closing it out after breaking again at 4-4.
“I didn’t start very well. I had to work hard to get into the match,” Murray said.
Top seed Ferrer won his opening match, beating Tobias Kamke of Germany 7-5 6-1 to reach the last eight, where he faces Ivo Karlovic.
Six players are chasing the three remaining places for the ATP World Tour Finals (Cilic sixth in race but qualifies as he won US Open) |
||
|---|---|---|
| Player and position | Points | Tournaments played |
|
5 Kei Nishikori (Jap) |
4,265 |
20 |
|
7 Tomas Berdych (Cze) |
3,945 |
20 |
|
8 Milos Raonic (Can) |
3,750 |
17 |
|
9 David Ferrer (Sp) |
3,715 |
22 |
|
10 Andy Murray (GB) |
3,655 |
18 |
|
11 Grigor Dimitrov (Bul) |
3,450 |
18 |
Seventh-ranked Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic is 290 points clear of Murray, while Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov, in 11th, is 205 points adrift of the Briton.
Both are in action in Stockholm, where Dimitrov reached the quarter-finals by beating Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-5 7-6 (7-4), while top seed Berdych defeated Germany’s Dustin Brown 7-5 6-3.
Murray has qualified for the World Tour Finals, which will be held at the O2 Arena from 9 to 16 November, every year since 2008.
There are three qualifying events this week, in Moscow, Vienna and Stockholm, all carrying 250 points for the winner.
Next week’s tournament in Valencia, which Murray has entered, carries 500 points with 1,000 on offer for the winner in the final qualifying week in Paris.
