Andy Murray sealed his place in the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals after 33 minutes of play in the Friday evening session at The O2 arena.
Murray only needed to win one set against Jo Wilfired Tsonga to play in Sunday’s semi-final and after just over 30 minutes Murray claimed the opening set 6-2 with stunning form.
Murray who finishes second in Group A will next play the winner of Group B, either Roger Federer or Juan Martin Del Potro.
In the opening set Murray immediately put the pressure on taking the early break with a tricky slice backhand. The British No.1 then sealed the double break advantage as Tsonga made too many errors by being over aggressive early on in the points.
"I was very focused from the start of the match" said Murray. "I got off to a good start."
The Frenchman could not find a place on the scoreboard until after the fifth game when he held serve for the first time of the match.
At 5-2 Murray was serving to qualify for his semi-final place, eventually closing it out on his third set point.
Tsonga, having finished as the runner-up last year to Federer, played on with knowledge that his final campaign of 2012 had finished, but with nothing to lose the world No.8 stepped up and started to take control of the second set.
Speaking about Tsonga's performance in the second set Murray said: "He came out with some unbelievable shots. He played really well at the end."
The seventh game saw one of the best points of the match give Tsonga three break points which he converted with a clean winner to even to 4-4, then with a slam dunk smash winner, he went ahead 5-4.
Trailing 5-6, Murray had to serve to stay in the set. Tsonga had his chance but drifted the ball wide. Murray then forced the error from 27 year-old Tsonga taking the set into a tie-break.
In the breaker Murray took back the control becoming more aggressive on each point and saw himself with four match points. Tsonga saved the first, but Murray sealed it 7-6(3) with a 135 mile per hour ace.
Murray’s match was preceded by the other Briton at The O2 arena this week, Jonny Marray.
Marray & Dane Freddie Nielsen already sealed their place in the semi-finals after a close three set win over Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Daniel Nestor of Canada on Wednesday which guaranteed them the top spot in Group B.
While their Friday evening encounter against Robert Lindstedt (SWE) & Horia Tecau (ROU) in the final round of the group matches made no impact on their progression in London, the British/Danish duo had never lost a match in London together and were looking to carry on that winning streak.
However Lindstedt & Tecau, who finished as the 2012 Wimbledon doubles runner-ups to Marray & Nielsen had other ideas. They took the opening set 6-3 in 30 minutes and two breaks of serve after Lindstedt hit a powerful winner backhand on a sudden death deuce point.
In the second set, Lindstedt & Tecau continued their dominant play breaking through twice. While Marray & Nielsen took a break of their own to stay in the set a while longer, at 6-5, 40-40 Lindstedt hit a forehand winner return down the line to seal the win in one hour and 17 minutes.
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