Andy Murray on Wednesday admitted that he is prepared for all possibilities as the race for the last handful of spots at the ATP World Tour Finals heats up with less than three weeks left in the season.
“It [making the eight-man championships in London] is a goal for every player at the start of the year,” said the 2013 Wimbledon champion, who entered the second round of the Erste Bank Open yesterday against Canadian Vasek Pospisil.
“I’m not under pressure. I’d like to get there, but if not, then it’s just not to be. If I don’t qualify, I don’t deserve it,” the Briton said.
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Murray stands provisional 10th in the points, one spot behind Vienna top seed and fellow year-end rival David Ferrer of Spain.
The three spots left are being contested in the main by Ferrer, Murray, Moscow top seed Milos Raonic, Bulgarian Tomas Berdych and Japan’s Kei Nishikori.
Murray repeated his assertion of last week that the rule automatically sending any Grand Slam winner into the London field could be slightly detrimental to the ATP.
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“It reduces the value of the ATP [to favor a winner of a rival ITF event]. That’s not a criticism, it’s reality,” said Murray, who won in Shenzhen last month.
“From my point of view it’s fine, I’m not against a Grand Slam champion getting in, but from the ATP point of view, the event loses a bit of value,” the Briton said.
In the second round in Vienna on Wednesday, Philipp Kohlschreiber returned from a four-week injury layoff to beat Carlos Berlocq of Argentina 3-6, 6-1, 6-4.
The fourth-seeded German, who had a bye in the first round, Kohlschreiber will next play either fellow German Benjamin Becker or last year’s finalist Robin Haase of the Netherlands.
Meanwhile, Ivo Karlovic of Croatia reached his sixth quarter-final of the year after beating two-time winner Jurgen Melzer 6-4, 7-6 (1).
Karlovic next plays either top-seeded Ferrer or Tobias Kamke of Germany, who rallied to defeat Simone Bolleli of Italy 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In first-round play, fifth-seeded Lukas Rosol of the Czech Republic ended his six-match skid by beating Lukas Lacko of Slovakia 6-2, 6-4 to set up a second-round match against Viktor Troicki of Serbia.
Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky also advanced after defeating Miloslav Mecir of Slovakia 6-2, 4-6, 6-3.
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Defending champion Grigor Dimitrov advanced to the quarter-finals of the Stockholm Open by defeating Russia’s Teymuraz Gabashvili 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Wednesday.
The Bulgarian, who had a bye into the second round, needed just one match point to seal his tie-breaker victory.
Spain’s Fernando Verdasco beat Jarko Nieminen of Finland 6-3, 6-4 to set up a quarter-final match against Bernard Tomic. The Australian beat third-seeded Kevin Anderson of South Africa 7-6 (4), 6-4.
In first-round ties, Jack Sock of the US defeated Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, France’s Pierre-Hugues Herbert beat Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta and German qualifier Dustin Brown beat Christian Lindell of Sweden 6-4, 7-6 (3).
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Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Former US Masters champion Zach Johnson was left embarrassed after a foul-mouthed response to ironic cheers from spectators after a triple bogey at Augusta National on Friday. Johnson, the 2007 Masters winner, missed the cut after his three-over-par round of 75 left him on seven-over 151 for 36 holes, his six on the par-three 12th playing a big role in his downfall. Television footage showed Johnson reacting to sarcastic cheers and applause when he tapped in for the triple bogey by yelling: “Oh fuck off.” Such a response would be considered bad form in any golf tournament, but is particularly out of keeping
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