Andy Murray Stays Alive In London, Beats Milos Raonic, 6-3, 7-5 In ATP World Tour Finals

It took two tough sets but Andy Murray of Great Britain finally got a win in London by beating Milos Raonic of Canada in straight sets, 6-3, 7-5 on Wednesday. Murray improves his record to 1-1 in the group stages and needs to beat Roger Federer in his next match to advance to the knockout semifinal round of the season-ending ATP tournament.

Murray was glad he got the victory but was more happy with the fact that he played better compared to his last match, a loss to Kei Nishikori of Japan in his opening match.

“I obviously played better tonight,” Murray said via the tournament’s official website. “I hit the ball a lot cleaner than I did on Sunday from the beginning of the match. So that was pleasing.”

Murray broke Raonic once in the first set and that was enough to net the set win. The second set was a lot closer but Raonic couldn’t do enough to force a deciding third set and Murray notched the crucial win. A loss by Murray would have ousted him from competition now he has a chance to advance to the semifinal round depending on the result of his own match versus Federer and the Nishikori vs. Raonic meeting.

“It will be obviously a very difficult match,” Murray said of his upcoming marquee match-up with the World No. 2. “But it will be an exciting match. A good one to be part of. I hope I can play well. We've had some very good matches over the years. I hope on Thursday it will be the same.”

ATP World Tour Finals Scenarios - Who Will Qualify to the Semis

If Nishikori beats Raonic and Murray defeats Federer, three players (Nishikori, Federer and Murray) will end up tied with two wins and 1 loss in the group stage. The tiebreaker will be the percentage of sets won or if still tied, the percentage of games won. If Murray wins over Federer and Nishikori loses to Raonic, Murray will advance along with Federer and Nishikori and Raonic will be ousted. If Federer wins over Murray and Nishikori triumphs over Raonic, Federer and Nishikori will make it to the final four.

There’s also a chance at a triple tie for Nishikori, Raonic and Murray with a Federer win over Murray and a Raonic win over Nishikori. In this case, tiebreaker will be applied to decide who advances to the next round.