Murray eases past Wawrinka to reach semis — ATP Finals

“I think there should be points at the Olympics”, said Murray. “Luckily I had a day’s break after the match with Kei”.

“I don’t know how the future of Davis Cup will look like”, Djokovic added.

Murray is 2-0 and atop the John McEnroe group, though hasn’t officially progressed.

After losing a colossal points lead over the Briton since beating him to win the French Open, Djokovic is now two wins away from grabbing it back. And he reaches his first semifinals.

“For me and, I’m sure, for Novak, both of our goals would be to try to win the event”.

“He does move the ball around extremely well”, said Murray after the match. Physically I feel good. “It’s very big for me”. But I think it’s fair, correct and respectful towards the player and to the game, if you go over the first time, that you at least get a heads up.

Wawrinka missed another break point chance by sending a backhand long and that represented his final opportunity to keep his Tour Finals campaign alive. The tie-break was pretty open.

“I’m certainly not taking anything for granted”. I hope that I will be back here in the future. It was an unbelievable experience. I think it’s going to be a really interesting weekend with some really good match tomorrow – semi-final, and hopefully awesome final. You have to be 100 per cent from the very start.

Djokovic maintained his ideal record in the group stages with a 6-1 6-2 thumping of alternate David Goffin.

While the tennis world will see the giant Canadian as a stepping stone to a blockbuster showdown with Novak Djokovic for the prize of year-end No 1 ranking, Murray will be too aware of the dangers Raonic possesses.

“Everything has been going, as I said, in a positive direction”. “I played poor tennis at that stage”.

The Serb responded by having an increasingly animated discussion with Murphy at the end of the game, which included Djokovic appearing to say the official “had no clue about the game”.

“I’m looking forward to the semi-finals on Saturday”.

Goffin was a late replacement for the already-eliminated Gael Monfils, who pulled out of his last group match to avoid aggravating the rib injury that has troubled him for several weeks.

On tap Friday, the last two semifinalists will be placed.

“The first set was tight, there weren’t many chances”, he said.

Andy Murray chided himself early in his match against Stan Wawrinka after a loose shot.

Wawrinka whether Murray will ensure first place in the group? That’s all I’m trying to do.

The Japanese world No 5 claimed the first set but, with little to play for, was understandably not at his best as Cilic offered some resistance. It’s going to be a tough match. “Numerous players have been talking about this format and the schedule, top players especially”. It’s going to be interesting. I know I’ll need to play well to win.

But it was not a happy experience for the Belgian, who detained Djokovic for just an hour and nine minutes.

Later, Kei Nishikori challenges Marin Cilic.

Murray is in a strong position at the top of the group standings after two matches and the Scot needs only a set to make the semi-finals, but, of course, there’s a bit more than that riding on this match.