After weeks of ifs and maybes, Andy Murray will step on to court in Paris today knowing that if he leaves it victorious he will have sealed his place in next month's ATP World Tour Finals in London.
His spot in the eight-man season-ending event could be assured even before he takes on Grigor Dimitrov in the third round of the Paris Masters should one of his rivals for the remaining places fall first.
Even if he were to lose to Dimitrov - and on recent form he is surely the favourite, providing he has the energy - it would take a bizarre set of results to keep him out of London.
Yet it would be even more satisfying should he clinch qualification himself, having played his way into the top five in the Race to London with three titles in the past five consecutive weeks.
This week is his sixth on the bounce and yesterday, after a couple of precious days off following his epic win in Valencia on Sunday, Murray looked strong as he dismissed the Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-4. It helped that Benneteau, flashy but inconsistent, double-faulted three times in the opening game to drop serve but, regardless, Murray looked right on top of his game, playing within himself and moving outstandingly well.
"In the second set I didn't serve so well," said Murray. "I feel like I went through a period where I made about one first serve in 10, 11 points and let him into the match a little bit, but apart from that period in the middle of the second set it was very good."
It was Dimitrov who ended Murray's title defence in the quarter-finals at Wimbledon this summer and although he has to reach the final in Paris to have a chance of making London, even being close shows how far he has come.
David Ferrer (effectively in eighth place with Rafael Nadal ruled out of London) and Milos Raonic (ninth) kept alive their hopes with hard-fought wins yesterday, Ferrer just shading the Canadian for the last qualifying spot going into today's matches.
Kei Nishikori is just one place behind Murray but Raonic has to make the semis to stand a chance and so, one way or the other, miracles aside, Murray's place in London will be secured this week, a fine achievement just more than a year after back surgery. "If I get there I'll be very pleased, because I've worked hard the last few weeks and it's been tough," he said. "I've been through some very hard matches."
If he does well here and, more pertinently, in London, he could also find himself back in the top four.
"I think if I was to do that it would be a great effort, to be honest," he said. "It's been a tough year. I've had a lot of questions asked about me, about my back and whether I still had the motivation to keep fighting and pushing. So if I was to finish No.4 in the world that would be a good year."
Tommy Robredo, beaten by Murray in an epic three-set final in Valencia on Sunday, finally ran out of energy and again lost in three sets to Nishikori, 6-7 (4-7), 6-2, 6-3.
Roger Federer, meanwhile, kept up his hopes of finishing the year as world No.1 when he defeated the Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 7-6 (7-5), 6-7 (5-7), 6-4. The world No.2, who has a chance of leapfrogging Novak Djokovic at the top of the rankings and equalling Pete Sampras' record of ending six seasons as the No.1, knew Chardy would be a tough nut to crack and he did not disappoint.
Chardy, who beat Federer in their previous encounter at the Rome Masters earlier this year, had set points in the first set and saved two match points in the second before the Swiss claimed the deciding set in more comfortable fashion.
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