ERSTE BANK OPEN 500—VIENNA, AUSTRIA
Top seed Andy Murray continued his course toward becoming the No. 1 player in the world on Sunday, defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-6(6) to win the title in Vienna, Austria.
Needing one hour and 49 minutes to seal the victory, Murray won 78 percent of his first serve points and struck five aces. Winning his seventh title of the year, Murray will now become the No. 1 player in the world if he wins the Paris Masters in France next week and current world No. 1 Novak Djokovic does not make the final.
Tsonga, who was playing in his 23rd career final, still has an outside chance of reaching the ATP World Tour Finals in London, but must win the title in Paris.
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SWISS INDOORS BASEL—BASEL, SWITZERLAND
No. 4 seed Marin Cilic captured his 16th career title in Basel, Switzerland on Sunday, defeating No. 3 seed Kei Nishikori 6-1, 7-6(5). After squandering his first match point by hitting a forehand long, Cilic won the title after Nishikori hit his second double fault of the contest.
Improving to 5-7 in career head-to-head meetings against Nishikori, Cilic has now won titles at every level on Tour. The Croat won the US Open in 2014, the Cincinnati Masters earlier this summer, and now the Basel Indoors.
As a result of his victory, Cilic moved into eighth spot on the race to London.
Nishikori, who was in search of his second title of 2016, dropped to 1-5 in Tour finals this year. The Japanese star won in Memphis, but lost in the finals of Miami, Barcelona, Canada and Basel.
