British tennis star Andy Murray has booked his spot in the ATP World Championship Finals and will battle it out with the likes of Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, and Novak Djokovic in London next week as the tennis aces go head to head in the surge for the title.
The Scot defeated world number eleven Grigor Dimitrov 6-3 6-3 to reach the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters and cement his place in the English capital, and in doing so remains hopeful of winning his fourth title in six weeks.
Victory over Dimitrov must have tasted especially sweet for Murray after the Bulgarian thwarted the Scot’s hopes of winning back-to-back Wimbledon championships during the quarter-finals of the English competition in July.
Murray has been in fantastic form of late and demonstrated his high levels of confidence and desire for success during his convincing victory over the Bulgarian, which took only an hour and ten minutes.
Should Murray exhibit the same levels of confidence and ability at the ATP Finals as he has recently, he will have no problem overturning some of the biggest names in tennis.
Despite enduring a largely disappointing 2014 campaign, the 27-year-old has turned his season around and enjoyed a successful end to the year after being crowned champion of the Shenzhen Open in September, the Vienna Open earlier this month, and the Valencia Open last Sunday.
Novak Djokovic or Gael Monfils will be awaiting Murray at the quarter-final stage of the competition in the French capital, and should Murray be drawn against his Serbian rival, the Scot could be given the valuable opportunity to further assess the Belgrade-born player’s strengths and weaknesses.
With Spaniard Rafael Nadal announcing his withdrawal from the ATP Finals due to an appendix problem earlier this week, the level of competition for Murray has indeed weakened, increasing hope amongst British tennis fans that this could be the year the star wins the title on home soil.
This year is the seventh consecutive year the Scot has qualified for the World Tour finals, and after being unable to compete in the tournament last year due to back surgery, the Brit will have the motivation from 2013’s disappointment to spur him on to a sensational victory.