Ferrer keeps London year-end dream alive

VIENNA — David Ferrer took just 62 minutes to clinch a crushing 6-1, 6-1 win over fellow Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at the Austria Open Thursday to stay in the chase for a spot in the ATP World Tour Finals. The top seed, who lost the Vienna final a year ago to Andy Murray, strengthened his claim on provisional eighth spot in the race for the last two positions in the eight-man London tournament. But standing ninth is burly Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, with the weekend Shanghai Masters finalist ready to keep pace as he faces Lukas Rosol in the second round. According to ATP calculations, Tsonga can edge closer to Ferrer, who holds a margin of 945 points on the former Australian Open finalist. Japan's Kei Nishikori, who stands seventh, is not playing this week. He leads Ferrer by 455 points but the title at the Vienna event is now worth 500 points. "Of course I have pressure, but I'm in a good position," said Ferrer, winner of four titles this year and who missed three spring-summer months with an elbow injury. "There is more pressure on the others. I don't want to watch the results of the others, I'm confident with where I am right now. "I played a much better match today after adapting to the conditions. I had no mistakes, but I'm only in the quarterfinals. To earn the title I have to win three more matches." The Spaniard won with five aces to the same number of double-faults for Garcia-Lopez, with Ferrer breaking five times. Ferrer, 33, takes a perfect 15-0 record over Fabio Fognini into his quarterfinal after the Italian eighth seed advanced 6-1, 6-4 against Czech Radek Stepanek. Kevin Anderson of South Africa beat Jiri Vesely of the Czech Republic 6-7 (4), 6-3, 7-5. Also, Steve Johnson of the United States defeated Jerzy Janowicz of Poland 6-4, 6-7 (7), 6-4 for his third quarterfinal of the year and first since reaching the semifinals in Winston-Salem in August. — Agencies