Stan Wawrinka beats Marin Cilic to keep his hopes alive

The Swiss produced a passive showing in his loss to Kei Nishikori on Monday, but did enough to see this out 7-6 7-6 without ever reaching the heights that saw him crowned US Open champion back in September.

Wawrinka will now meet Murray on Friday in the final round-robin of John McEnroe group with qualification still up for grabs for both players, as well as Nishikori.

A victory for Cilic would have been enough for Murray to join the already-qualified Novak Djokovic in the knockout stage with a match to spare, but it was always going to be a tall order for the Croatian given his poor overall record against Wawrinka.

The man nicknamed 'Stanimal' came into it boasting a 10-2 head-to-head over Cilic, who had not beaten the three-time Grand slam champion since 2010.

A cagey first set saw little incident in the early exchanges as both players failed to make an impact with their respective return games. Cilic was the first to show in the 10th game but he couldn't convert a set point when attacking a second serve and Wawrinka recovered to level.

It proved to be significant as the inevitable tie break was bossed by Wawrinka who outlasted the world number seven in some long rallies before serving and volleying to great effect on the second of four set points to take it 7-3.

Cilic reacted in the right manner and secured the first break of the match at the start of the second set. Wawrinka hit back in game four with a pair of rasping forehands but had to fend off double break point in the next game to deny Cilic the upper hand once more.

The rest of the set stayed with serve before Wawrinka ran away with the tie break from 3-3, rattling through four points in a row to deny Murray early progress and set up a mouthwatering showdown with the Brit.

Cilic bows out after a second straight defeat, but can now turn his attention to the Davis Cup final with Croatia.