By Linda Pearce
London: One is not the only sought-after rankings number at this week's Barclay ATP World Tour Finals, with a trio of contenders vying to fill the rare year-end position in the top three vacated by the absent Roger Federer.
Fellow Swiss Stan Wawrinka is the incumbent, but struggling with fatigue and a left knee injury that restricted the US Open champion during Monday's 6-2, 6-3 loss to another aspirant, Kei Nishikori. Also in the mix is Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic, impressive against Gael Monfils in his straight sets Group Ivan Lendl opener on Sunday night.
Confident: Kei Nishikori.Credit: AP
Nishikori, at 26, has been thereabouts for longer, but is also injury-prone, and determined to finish a consistent if not spectacular season - in which he has gone 1-4 in finals, his sole success coming in Memphis in February - on a high note. Only the so-called "Big Four" of Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray, plus Wawrinka and Spaniard David Ferrer, have filled the top three spots for the best part of a decade in the men's game.
"That's my goal for this week, trying to win a lot of matches, and trying to reach No.4 or No.3 - that's my next goal," said Nishikori after a tidy 67-minute performance against the struggling third seed. "I've been playing really well this year so I try to keep it up."
Not at his best: Stan Wawrinka.Credit: AP
The same goes for Wawrinka, who won four titles including his third major, while extending a strong sequence of finals successes that was ended only by German Alexander Zverev in St Petersburg in September. Yet although the 32-year-old has never been eliminated in the group stage at the season finale in three previous visits, he arrived at the O2 this year with knee issues that had troubled him for several weeks.
There had been enough improvement in recent days, though,for Wawrinka to anticipate a better performance than the one he produced. "I was expecting a good match. Didn't happen today," he said.
"It was not a great match compared to what I can do, that's for sure. Wasn't a great day for myself. In general, I think he play well, put a lot of pressure from the beginning. Yeah, I don't think I find anything on the court today. I was a little bit slow on everything. I was hesitating a lot with my game, my movement."
Not that a first-up loss will necessarily prove decisive, for the round-robin format can be a forgiving one, but he is in the stronger of the two groups and has top seed Andy Murray and the dangerous Marin Cilic still to play.
"Not the first time that I lost the first match - last year I lost against Rafa, really bad match," Wawrinka said. "I'm sure I still have something inside me to play some great tennis before the end of the year, so I'm going to try everything for that in the next match. I'm going to do what I need to do tomorrow to get ready for trying to play better in two days."
Certainly, Wawrinka was far from his best against Nishikori, failing to hit a groundstroke winner until the seventh game, and finishing with 31 unforced errors, his serve broken five times and his return unable to generate a single break point. The Japanese star was not just immaculate from the baseline but he also serve-volleyed on occasion, winning all seven of his net points in a one-sided opening set.
"I felt very comfortable out there. Started very good, you know, from the first game. So I was very confident," said Nishikori, the owner of the backhand Federer rates as the best in the game. "I see that he wasn't playing his best, and he was missing. A lot of unforced errors. I see a lot of opportunity today, so I try to be aggressive. Even second set, I stay really tough and played good match today."