Monday 20 October 2014 20:48, UK
Andy Murray heads to Valencia this week knowing there can be no let-up in his bid to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray beat David Ferrer to win his second title of the year on Sunday, the Erste Open in Vienna, to move up from 10 to eight in the Race for London.
I just need to win as many matches as possible to keep hold of the eighth spot or go higher.
As it stands, with two weeks left before the O2 finale, Murray will be competing in London but he still has plenty of work to do to confirm his place.
Tomas Berdych's win against Grigor Dimitrov in the final of the Stockholm Open consolidated the Czech's grip of seventh position.
There are two tournaments taking place this week with points up for grabs, the Valencia Open – where Murray will be playing – and the Swiss Indoors in Basle.
Murray will face the Austrian veteran Jurgen Melzer in the first round, and potentially Italy’s Fabio Fognini in the next round. If the tournament goes according to the seedings, Murray will face the big-serving South African Kevin Anderson in the quarter-finals, and Ferrer in the semi-finals.
Six players, realistically, are competing for the last three available places for London.
"The next few weeks are extremely important, everyone is playing (this) week," said Murray on www.atpworldtour.com.
"I just need to win as many matches as possible to keep hold of the eighth spot or go higher."
Ferrer, meanwhile, still harbours genuine hopes of making it to London – the Spaniard is currently in ninth place but only 100 points behind the Scot going into Valencia so their potential semi-final meeting would be vital.
Ferrer, a place behind Murray in the Race for London, is top seed in Valencia, Berdych is No 2 and Murray No 3.
"I have reached the final in Vienna, so it is positive," said Ferrer, who had beaten Murray in the third round of last week's Shanghai Rolex Masters.
"Andy played more aggressively than I did in the crucial moments and he deserved to win.
"Of course, I am disappointed as I lost the match having had a 5-3 lead (in the third set).
"I have a chance (to qualify for London). There are two more weeks, which are important to get to London. I will try and be more positive next week."
Milos Raonic and Gregor Dimitrov – in tenth and eleventh place respectively in the qualifying race for the O2 – are both competing in Basle where Roger Federer is the top seed.
Watch coverage of the Valencia Open live all week on Sky Sports 3 HD
