Andy Murray Must Beat Wawrinka in 3 Sets to Seal World Tour Finals Semi Final Place

All anyone can talk about these days in tennis is the idea of Andy Murray as the top-ranked player in the world. Few people could have hoped that he would come so far. Right now, though, Murray has a few problems to contend with, chief amongst which is Stan Wawrinka. The latest tennis odds by MyBookie.ag are not so overwhelmingly favorable for Murray.

And one can see why; the battle against Kei Nishikori was grueling. Everyone who saw it live can admit as much. Sure, the 29-year-old Briton came out on top at the end. But it took him three hours and twenty minutes to secure his win. That is a tournament record.

And if you know anything about tennis, you know that it is a grueling sport. It couldn’t have been easy for Murray to get his victory over Kei, not with the challenge Kei put up. And now, it looks like Murray has Stan to look forward to at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday.

The Wednesday match might be behind him, but he won’t have forgotten it so easily. Murray returned to London’s O2 Arena two days later knowing that he had to take a set off Wawrinka in order to secure his semi-final place.

The match awaiting Murray with the Swiss Third seed takes place on Friday in the early afternoon. Kei, on the other hand, still has other things to worry about besides his loss to Murray.

He has to take on Marin Cilic in the evening session. The Japanese player will be looking to claim one of the two semi-final spots for himself (From the John McEnroe Group).

Murray has a lot riding on his next matches. The goal for Murray is to end 2016 as the Number One player in the world; with Novak Djokovic’s recent fumbles, it is within Murray’s power to finally take the top spot for himself for the first time in his professional career.

And the only way Murray can keep his hopes of becoming Number One alive is by making sure that he qualifies for the last four. Murray won his opening two matches but that doesn’t mean he is safe.

He can still be eliminated by Wawrinka; Wawrinka just has to defeat him in straight sets. Nishikori must also defeat Cilic. The math is still in Murray’s favor, if only he can do his part.

Playing Novak in the semi-finals won’t work in Murray’s favor. To avoid such an outcome, and possibly even win the group, not only must Nishikori win his match in three sets (against Cilic) but Murray must win or lose in three sets as well when he faces Wawrinka.

The Wednesday Match was so grueling that some pundits and analysts cannot help but wonder whether Murray will recover in time for his match against Wawrinka. Murray sounded optimistic when interviewed.

He said that he was trying to not think much about it. Additionally, he was planning to use every moment he could get to rest his weary body. Nishikori beat Wawrinka pretty soundly on Monday, so maybe he isn’t in the best form.

Then again, he managed to beat Cilic on Wednesday, so maybe Murray has every reason to worry.