Andy Murray is now six wins and a Novak Djokovic loss away from achieving a lifelong dream of reaching No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The Scot reached the Erste Bank Open 500 final on Saturday in Vienna because of a walkover from David Ferrer, who didn’t play due to a muscle injury in his left leg. The 34-year-old Spaniard had spent two hours and 33 minutes beating Viktor Troicki on Friday.

“It was impossible,” Ferrer said of playing on Saturday. “I am disappointed but I have to be positive and will be ready for next season.”

Ferrer had conceded a walkover only one other time in an ATP World Tour tournament. In 2009, the Spaniard withdrew from his second-round match in Valencia. He’s played 1,024 career matches.

Murray said: “Now I just try to get ready for the final, use today as a bit of rest day, practise a little bit on the centre court and then see what happens tomorrow.”

Sunday will mark Murray’s 11^th final of the season and a chance for his seventh title, which would be a career high and tie Djokovic for most in 2016.

The Scot will meet Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who beat Ivo Karlovic 5-7, 7-5, 7-6(6). Murray leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 13-2 and has won their past four contests.

Should Murray win the Vienna final, he’d move to within 415 points of Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Race To London. If that scenario plays out, to reach No. 1, Murray would need to win the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next week and have Djokovic lose before the Paris final. If Djokovic reaches the final, he’ll remain No. 1.

View The Emirates ATP Race To London

The 29-year-old Murray is trying to become the oldest first-time No. 1 since John Newcombe, at 30 years of age, on 3 June 1974.

Any shift in the order of the Top Two would be a dramatic change for both players. Djokovic has claimed the top spot consecutively since 7 July 2014. Murray first reached No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings more than seven years ago, on 17 August 2009. On Monday, Murray will have spent 76 weeks altogether at No. 2.

Murray’s Time As No. 2 In The Emirates ATP Rankings

The Scot has won 14 consecutive matches and leads the ATP World Tour with 69 match wins this season.

“Looking forward to it. It will be a tough match. Both Ivo and Jo are big servers and like playing indoors,” Murray said. “But I’m obviously motivated to try and finish the season as strong as I can and being in another final is obviously good. It’s been a tough week. First couple of matches were really tricky but now I get the chance to play for the title and hopefully play my best match in the final.”

The Bryan brothers recorded their team’s 1,000th match win Friday night at the Erste Bank Open 500, and afterwards celebrated the milestone by sharing a 75cm traditional Viennese Sacher Cake with fans.

“It’s big enough everyone could have a piece,” said Mike Bryan, following the on-court presentation by Vienna Tournament Director Herwig Straka and former Austrian No. 1 Thomas Muster.

“We’re happy to get 1,000 in Vienna,” said Mike. “This is going to be a special city for us until we die. And it’s good to see Thomas Muster, one of our idols, come out. That means a lot, we are honoured to have his presence on the court. We want to thank Herwig, the Tournament Director for having us here at Vienna, very special place, this court is pretty awesome and it’s great to see all the fans here come out. This is going to be very memorable forever for us.”

The Bryans prevailed against Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki 6-4, 4-6, 10-7 to move into the Vienna semi-finals, where they will face Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.

“We’ve been looking at this number 1000 for a couple of years and it’s been a big goal of ours, to do it tonight in Vienna in front of all of you guys is amazing!”  Bob told the crowd. “We really appreciate the support, we really appreciate you guys staying for the doubles and giving us some love, and like Mike said this city will always have a place in our heart!

Earlier Friday, Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopefuls Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin secured their place in the Vienna final by ousting top seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares 1-6, 6-3, 11-9. Marach and Martin are No. 11 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. Two places remain up for grabs in the elite eight-team field with just over a week to go in the regular season.

View Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London

Basel: Lindstedt/Venus Reach SFs

Robert Lindstedt and Michael Venus advanced to the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel after beating Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-4, 7-5. Klaasen/Ram are No. 6 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London and qualified Thursday for their first Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Lindstedt and Venus next face top seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau for a place in the final, while second seeds Nicolas Mahut and Edouard Roger-Vasselin meet Marcel Granollers and Jack Sock in the other doubles semi-final.

Up to nine players could be in contention to battle for the final two spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals when the regular season concludes with the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris next week.

As of Friday night, with Ivo Karlovic and David Ferrer both advancing to the Erste Bank Open 500 semi-finals in Vienna, there are actually 10 players within mathematical reach of Tomas Berdych, who holds the current minimum qualification points total of 2,880. But because Ferrer and Karlovic must win the Vienna title to stay in London contention – and only one player can do that – one or both of them will be eliminated from contention before Paris begins.

Additionally, Marin Cilic, who is alive in the Basel semi-finals, could pass Berdych and raise the bar to a minimum 3,090 points required for qualification before Paris begins. Should the Croat win Basel and play at least one match in Paris (guaranteeing himself 10 points for a first-round loss), Karlovic, Ferrer and Dimitrov would be eliminated from London contention regardless of their own performances.

Ferrer would have been eliminated from London contention today had he not saved a match point against Viktor Troicki in the Vienna quarter-finals.

View Draw

The battle for the two London slots is a fluid situation, where this weekend’s performances of Cilic and three Vienna semi-finalists – Karlovic, Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga – will ultimately determine how many players will still be in London contention when Paris begins Monday. As of Friday night there are 10 players still alive in the London hunt: Dominic Thiem, Berdych, David Goffin, Cilic, Roberto Bautista Agut, Tsonga, Lucas Pouille, Grigor Dimitrov, Ferrer and Karlovic.

Thiem, currently 325 points ahead of Berdych in the Emirates ATP Race to London, will open his Paris campaign against the winner of the first-round clash between Philipp Kohlschreiber and Jack Sock. A potential third-round meeting with Richard Gasquet awaits.

Several potential third-round matches could be critical in determining who is eliminated from contention. Seventh seed Berdych could meet No. 10 seed Bautista Agut (2,340) – who as of now must reach the final to have a London shot – while No. 13 seed Pouille (2,106) will likely need to advance past World No. 2 Andy Murray in the third-round – and go on to win the title – to keep alive his hopes.

Cilic (2,770), who passed Goffin (2,690) for 10^th spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London Friday, is on a third-round collision course with his Belgian rival. Cilic will square off against Karlovic or a qualifier, while Goffin plays the winner of the opening round between Nicolas Mahut and Martin Klizan. Top seed Novak Djokovic is looming as a likely quarter-final opponent in that section.

In the bottom half of the Paris draw, No. 11 seed Tsonga, who plays Karlovic in the Vienna semi-finals, could face a must-win third-round meeting with fifth seed Kei Nishikori.

As points stand October 28, Pouille, Karlovic, Ferrer and Dimitrov would need to win the Paris title just to have a chance.

Paris will also see Andy Murray continue his quest to displace Djokovic as World No. 1. Should Murray go on to win Vienna, he would overtake Djokovic if he wins Paris and the Serb does not reach the final.