Andy Murray qualifies for ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals

The nice thing is that Wawrinka could still get together after lung lesions from Nishikori and beat Cilic 2-0 in sets (7-6, 7-6).

Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have lived with stress all their professional sporting lives but rarely has their conjoined narrative headed for such a crescendo as in London this weekend, when their struggle for the world No1 ranking will be resolved at last.

But this was more of a warning to Raonic and Djokovic that he will be very hard to dislodge from the No 1 ranking. Djokovic has already qualified for the semifinals.

“I tried everything today”, Wawrinka said.

And, asked if he was relieved to avoid playing Djokovic in the last four, Murray underlined the threat posed by Raonic. Now we don’t, I think we’re probably each other’s biggest fans. I’ve been playing better and better as I proceed in the tournament.

And that trend continued into the decider as Nishikori continued to throw caution to the wind, and as Cilic remained patient his opportunity to break eventually came.

Belgium world number 11 Goffin had been hanging around all week in case of a withdrawal. “He was hitting a lot of winners, a lot of aces”, Murray said. “I haven’t gotten the better of him”. He easily took out Gael Monfils on Sunday, lost pair of tiebreaks to Novak Djokovic, (both of which he had chances to win) on Tuesday, followed by a dominant win against Thiem.

Cilic was pleased after his win. But got a big match obviously against Milos now, a tough one. I served very well myself. I think it’s going to be a really interesting weekend with some really good match tomorrow, semi-final, and hopefully incredible final. With an immediate break at the start of the second set, Murray fended off a Wawrinka breakpoint and to add insult to injury broke the Swiss once more to open up a 3-0 lead.

Asked if he would be surprised to regain the top ranking so soon after losing it, Djokovic said: “Well, I have not the same perception of “surprise” as you do”. “I didn’t feel really well”.

“I’ve got that to look forward to”.

Andy Murray celebrates winning the first set against Stan Wawrinka.

The 25-year-old had John McEnroe back in his box at the O2 Arena, the American having joined Raonic’s coaching team over the summer and helped him reach the Wimbledon final.

“(Raonic) obviously serves big, goes for his shots.

Murray, who had endured the longest match in the history of this competition just 48 hours earlier against Nishikori, showed no signs that it had taken its toll as he hit the ball cleanly and weathered the early storm.

“Why would you rush when you’ve had 14 hours to get ready?” he shouted.

Djokovic is looking to regain the world number 1 title and cap off a strong year with another win in London. That for me makes this match-up even more interesting.

Murray effectively ended Wawrinka’s resistance with a clinical volley that secured another break in the third game and prompted the frustrated Swiss star to smash two racquets and draw a code violation. “I’ll need to be the same tomorrow if I want to win”.