Marin Cilic ousts Goffin to secure Finals berth

Marin Cilic en route to his win over David Goffin on Thursday. (Photo: AFP)

Croatia’s Marin Cilic secured his place at this month’s Tour finals in London with a 6-3, 7-6 (11/9) victory over David Goffin at the Paris Masters on Thursday.

The 2014 US Open champion avenged three earlier defeats to Goffin this year to leave just one remaining spot in the eight-man field at the prestigious November 13-20 event.

Cilic will face either world number one Novak Djokovic or 14th seed Grigor Dimitrov in the quarter-finals in Paris.

Belgian Goffin was eliminated from Tour finals contention following the loss, with Dominic Thiem, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga fighting for the final berth.

Murray, Djoko win; Stan ousted Earlier on Wednesday, Andy Murray laboured past a determined Fernando Verdasco to reach the last 16 and keep the pressure on Djokovic’s ranking.

Murray is seeking to end Djokovic’s l22-week reign at the top, but the Briton was pushed to the limit by Verdasco in the French capital before prevailing 6-3, 6-7 (5/7), 7-5.

The second seed raced through the opening set but was forced into a decider after Verdasco, who had lost in the first round in five of his past six tournaments, levelled in a tie-break.

The Spaniard then saw two break points pass him by at 5-all in the third set, with Murraybreaking the following game to finally end Verdasco’s resistance.

Djokovic, the record four-time champion, marched into the third round with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller.

The Serb needed four set points before claiming the opener, with Djokovic then breaking at 4-all in the second to extend his Paris winning streak to 16 matches.

Third seeded Stan Wawrinka, the US Open champion, squandered a match point in the second set tiebreak to lose 3-6, 7-6 (8/6), 7-6 (7/1) to German qualifier Jan-Lennard Struff. World no. 91 Struff will face America’s John Isner for a place in the last eight stage.