Andy Murray moves within striking distance of Novak Djokovic’s world No1 ranking with seventh title of season
Britain’s Andy Murray could claim the world No1 ranking for the first time as soon as this weekend after winning his seventh title of the season at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna on Sunday.
Murray beat Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 7-6 (8-6) to extend his current unbeaten run to 15 matches and put himself in contention to overtake existing No1 Novak Djokovic this week in France.
The Scot stands to hit the top of the rankings if he wins the Paris Masters, which starts on Monday, and Djokovic does not reach the final.
Read more: Murray promises relentless charge to dethrone Djokovic
Murray, 29, quickly seized the initiative against Tsonga, breaking serve at the earliest opportunity and taking the first set in straightforward fashion.
An early break in the second set looked to have the world No2 cruising towards victory, but Tsonga fought back from 3-1 and 40-0 down to force a tie-break, which Murray eventually won.
It was a 14th victory over Tsonga in 16 meetings and confirmed Murray as the most in-form player on the planet.
He is enjoying the most prolific season of his career and has lost just three matches since the French Open in June – a spell in which he won his second Wimbledon title and defended his Olympic gold medal in Rio.
Djokovic on the wane
Djokovic, by contrast, has looked uncharacteristically vulnerable since the summer, winning just one of his last five events.
The Serb also has seven titles in 2016, but six came in the first half of the year and he has not won a tournament since July’s Rogers Cup in Toronto.