Andy Murray one victory away from place at World Tour Finals

Anyone who saw Andy Murray in the aftermath of his victory over Tommy Robredo in their epic Valencia Open final on Sunday could have been forgiven for thinking he never wanted to play another match in his life. Slumped in his chair and drenched in sweat, Murray looked as if he needed to close the curtains and sleep for a week. Instead, though, his thoughts were already turning to Paris and securing a place at the prestigious ATP World Tour Finals in London next month.

Now, after taking 71 minutes to beat Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4 in the second round of the Paris Masters, Murray is almost there, a situation that seemed unlikely when he dropped to 12th in the world after last month’s US Open.

Murray’s place will be assured if he reaches the quarter-finals in Paris, with the Scot facing Grigor Dimitrov on Thursday. The Bulgarian beat Pablo Cuevas 6-0, 6-3. “If I get there I will be pleased because I’ve worked hard the last few weeks,” Murray said.

That was an understatement. The Scot is playing his sixth tournament in successive weeks, for the first time since 2005, and his demented effort to drag himself back into the upper echelons of the game after his struggle to recover from back surgery last year has resulted in him winning three titles in the past month, leaving him fifth in the Race to London.

If other results had gone his way then the wait would already be over for Murray but tough wins for Milos Raonic, David Ferrer and Kei Nishikori against Jack Sock, David Goffin and Robredo respectively, meant that he still has work to do.

Yet Murray does not want to rely on others and he was in sparkling form against Benneteau. The Frenchman, to his credit, hit only three double-faults in the entire match. The problem was that they all came at once, allowing Murray to break for an early 2-0 lead, and the first set was over when Benneteau sent a backhand return long.

“He gifted me an early lead and that was good for me but I was hitting the ball well,” Murray said. “The conditions are very different to last week. It’s playing much faster; you’re seeing more guys up at the net than last week. In the second set I didn’t serve so well. I felt I went through a period where I served one first serve in 10 or 11 but otherwise it was good.”

The match appeared to be over as a contest when Murray broke twice to lead 4-1 in the second set before Benneteau threatened a comeback when he broke to trail 4-3. Just for a moment Murray’s serve deteriorated, yet he regrouped and sealed his victory with a thumping forehand.

Now Murray is being tipped for a return to the top four by the end of the year, not that he is taking anything for granted. “I think if I can do that it will be a great effort but I’m quite far from No4,” Murray said. “But even getting into London would be nice. If I can finish in the top four or five I think that will be a very good effort because it’s been a tough year. I’ve had a lot of questions asked about my back and whether I still had the motivation to keep pushing.”

Murray has delivered a resounding answer to those questions. One more victory and all the hard work will have been worth it.

Roger Federer, meanwhile, kept up his hopes of finishing the year as world No1 when he beat the Frenchman Jérémy Chardy 7-6, 6-7, 6-4 in the second round. The world No2, who has a chance of leapfrogging Novak Djokovic at the top and equalling Pete Sampras’s record of ending six seasons as the No1, knew Chardy would be a tough nut to crack and he did not disappoint at Bercy.

“I was expecting it to be difficult. Chardy has made it hard for me in the past,” Federer said. “I thought it could be tough – and it was. As the match went longer the better I actually started to play and created more opportunities.”