Wawrinka eyes ATP Finals by grabbing Malaysian Open
Saturday, 28 September 2013 00:00
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Kuala Lumpur (AFP): Second seed Stanislas Wawrinka is hoping the Malaysian Open will help him qualify for the year-end ATP World Tour Finals after clinching a quarterfinal place on Thursday in Kuala Lumpur.
He is at the eighth and final spot in the race to London with 2,925 points. There are still five places up for grabs as the world’s top three players, Rafael Nadal (11,015), Novak Djokovic (8,110) and Andy Murray (5,805) are the only ones to have confirmed their places in the season-ender.
Should he win the title here, Wawrinka would earn 250 points and put clear daylight between the 28-year-old and the chasing pack as he seeks to qualify for the gala tournament for the first time in his career.
The Swiss world number 10 qualified for the quarter-finals on Thursday when he defeated Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis 6-1, 7-5 at Putra Stadium. Wawrinka will be up against sixth seed Dimitry Tursunov of Russia, who outclassed Spanish wildcard Pablo Carreno Busta 6-2, 6-4 in the last second round fixture.
World number 26 Jurgen Melzer will seek help from his younger brother Gerald to try to reach the semi-finals of the Malaysian Open after setting up a date with Federico Delbonis.
The fourth-seeded Austrian qualified for the quarter-finals when he outlasted Germany’s Mischa Zverev 7-5, 6-4 earlier Thursday.
