A new title maybe, but there is no chance of Andy Murray getting ahead of himself this week at the ATP World Tour Finals, especially with Ivan Lendl in his corner.
A week after officially taking over as world No 1 for the first time, Murray did on Monday what he tends to do with relentless efficiency these days; win tennis matches.
World No 7 Marin Cilic put up a good fight and played some eye-catching tennis at a packed O2 Arena but walked off scratching his head at a 6-3 6-2 defeat.
Murray, who has now won 20 consecutive matches, said talk of his rise to the tennis summit has been conspicuous by its absence since meeting up with coach Lendl this week.
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“We haven’t spoken about it,” Murray, who clinched the top ranking at the Paris Masters, said.
“We spoke on the phone about it. But since we’ve been here, I haven’t spoken with the team about it, not once.”
Murray’s insatiable appetite will not be satisfied until the year-end No 1 ranking is in the bag, an honour only achieved by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic in the last 12 years.
Deposed No 1 Djokovic could claimed it back if he betters Murray’s performance in London, but Cilic believes the momentum Murray has means he will take some stopping.
“It’s a long way to go still. We’ll see definitely how things are going to play out,” he said.
“But just for Andy, I feel maybe he’s a little bit more motivated. When you are winning that much, it’s obviously easier to prepare and go with a new level of tennis.”
Murray fought off a succession of break points in the opening set and although he did drop his serve, he replied with two breaks of the Cilic delivery to take the set in 45 minutes.
The battle-hardened Scot broke in the fifth game of the second set with a belting forehand and again two games later.
In the earlier match, Kei Nishikori capitalised on the inconsistent form of Stan Wawrinka to claim a 6-2, 6-3 victory.
The Japanese world No 5 could replace Wawrinka as world No 3 with a good showing in London this week.
Watch the video below for match highlights from both of Monday’s matches.
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