Andy Murray Keeps Tennis World Tour Final Hopes Alive in Vienna as Milos Raonic Slips

Andy Murray's late charge towards ATP Finals qualification is off to a healthy start after defeating Vasek Pospisil in the second round at the Vienna Open.

The British number one eased past his Canadian opponent (6-4, 6-4) to set up a quarter-final encounter with Lennard Struff of Germany.

Murray is taking part in back-to-back competitions throughout the remaining weeks of October in a bid to boost his chances of clinching a place in November's ATP Finals in London, with the top eight ranked players qualifying.

The 27-year-old currently sits in 10th place, 95 points behind Raonic who occupies the final qualifying spot in eighth. However, Raonic's round two defeat to Lithuanian qualifier Ricardo Berankis in the Kremlin Cup presents Murray with the opportunity to close the gap on him over the coming weeks.

David Ferrer, who sits in between the two in ninth place with a 60 point lead over the Scot, is also in action in Vienna, reaching the last eight with a win over Tobias Kamke.

Tomas Berdych is also in Murray's sights in seventh place but Grigor Dimitrov, the man who ended his quest to defend his Wimbledon crown this year, follows him in 11<sup>th, albeit 205 points adrift.

Berdych and Dimitrov are both competing in Stockholm, a third qualifier taking place this week alongside those in Vienna and Moscow. All three see 250 points awarded to the winner.

Immediately after he is finished in Austria, Murray will travel to Spain for the Valencia Open before the final event in the Race to London in Paris.

Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic have all secured their places in the Finals at the O2 Arena in November, although doubts over Nadal's fitness suggests that line up could change.