Thursday 30 October 2014 15:14, UK
Andy Murray can guarantee qualification for the ATP World Tour Finals in London if he defeats Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov at the Paris Masters on Thursday.
The two-time grand slam winner, who was absent in the French capital last year afer undergoing back surgery, needed just 71 minutes to brush aside the challenge of French world No 28 Julien Benneteau to advance to the last 16, winning 6-3 6-4.
Should the British No 1, who won his third tournament of the season at Valencia on Sunday, advance to the quarter-finals, his place at the O2 Arena will be secure.
If I get in to London I deserve to be there, because it's your results across the whole year.
To do that the 27-year-old will have to overcome Dimitrov who also has a chance to qualify for the season-ending tournament which features the best eight players this season.
"I put in a lot of hard work the last few weeks, played a lot of tough, long matches," said Murray.
"And, yeah, if I get in to London I deserve to be there, because it's your results across the whole year.
"My results in most of the big tournaments this year have been good enough to be in the top eight.
"I have won more matches than most of the players in the slams, maybe one or two other guys, Roger (Federer) and Novak (Djokovic) might be the only ones to have won more." he added.
After dropping outside the Top 10 following his US Open quarter-final exit to Novak Djokovic, Murray began a late push for a spot in the London showpiece event.
Murray, in his sixth consecutive week on the tour, has won titles in Valencia, Vienna and Shenzhen and he appeared in great form again when rarely threatened by Benneteau.
The world No 8 will be seeking win number 20 from his last 22 matches, as well as a small slice of revenge against Dimitrov, who beat him in the Wimbledon quarter-finals this summer.
But apart from that humbling at the All England Club, Murray goes into their latest clash holding a 3-2 head-to-head record.
The 11th-ranked Dimitrov, who destroyed Pablo Cuevas 6-0 6-3 in his second round match, is enjoying his most successful season after landing ATP Tour titles in Acapulco, Bucharest and Queen's Club.
However, since the US Open his form has been mixed - the 23-year-old has a 8-4 win-loss record but recently reached the Stockholm Open final where he lost in three tight sets to Czech Tomas Berdych.
Watch Murray in action against Grigor Dimitrov, live on Sky Sports 3, from 9.30am (GMT) on Thursday.
