Britain's Andy Murray is still gunning for the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals despite crashing out of the Shanghai Masters to David Ferrer Thursday.
The 27-year-old Scot is among a raft of players who are fighting for the remaining five berths for next month's London tournament, which features the world's top eight players.
He was ninth in the race to reach the year-ender, but was leapfrogged by Ferrer after the Spaniard dumped him out of Shanghai 2-6, 6-1, 6-2.
Both players will likely take part in two tournaments later this month to chase points for London.
Ferrer confirmed he will attend the Valencia Open, while Murray is still to decide between the Spanish event or the Swiss Indoors Basel.
Both players will then meet at the Paris Masters, which is held ahead of the Finals.
“We'll see over the next few days where I decide to go,” Murray said after he was dumped out by the fifth seed in Shanghai.
“Yeah, hopefully I can play well the last couple of tournaments, try and make a push for London.”
Murray, who is ranked 11th in the world by the ATP, was in fine form during the Asian swing, where he clinched his only title of the year at the Shenzhen Open at the end of last month.
He also reached the semi-finals at the China Open a week later, after defeating US Open Champion Marin Cilic in the quarter-finals.
But he was over-powered by Ferrer's powerful groundstrokes during their three-set third round clash in Shanghai Thursday.
The defeat was a crushing blow for Murray, who was in a good position to pick up points at the tournament given that four of his rivals for London crashed out Wednesday.
But he remained confident that if he maintains his current form he can successfully close out his season.
“There's still obviously a few more weeks left in the season,” he said.
“I've played some pretty good tennis. I mean, the first set today was great tennis. “I didn't necessarily play my best in Shenzhen, but managed to win the tournament there.”
Ferrer, meanwhile, was pleased to beat Murray in what could prove to be a pivotal match for both their seasons.
“Yeah, of course (London) is my goal, and the goal of Andy sure in these moments,” he said.
“I think this match was very important for both players.”
Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer have already qualified for the World Tour Finals, leaving five spots up for grabs.
Contenders for London who crashed out in Shanghai Wednesday include Stan Wawrinka, who is fourth in the race, Kei Nishikori (5), Milos Raonic (8) and Grigor Dimitrov (11).
Czech Tomas Berdych (7) and Ferrer will play their quarter-final matches Friday. – AFP