Andy Murray breezes past Stan Wawrinka to book ATP World Tour Finals semi against Milos Raonic

The Scot just needed a set to qualify for the semis but he made it three wins from three at the O2 Arena this week to top John McEnroe group courtesy of a 6-4 6-2 success.

It was his most assured display of recent weeks and saw him equal his best ever run of 22-matches unbeaten, a sequence he set on his way to Wimbledon and Olympic titles earlier this season.

The result means Murray will now meet Milos Raonic on Saturday with Kei Nishikori already guaranteed to meet Novak Djokovic in the other semi final ahead of the Japanese's meeting with Marin Cilic later on Friday.

Wawrinka came into it having won three of his four previous encounters with Murray, and with a reputation for saving his best for the big occasion.

The Swiss number three seed knew he had to win to progress for the fourth straight year and he started like a man on fire, peppering the lines with a series of gigantic winners.

Murray, who had endured the longest match in the history of this competition just 48 hours earlier against Nishikori, showed no signs that it had taken its toll as he hit the ball cleanly and weathered the early storm.

The Scot was slowly beginning to draw the unforced errors out of his big-hitting opponent and it proved key as he struck a vital blow on his first break point of the match in game seven. A net cord gave Wawrinka a chance to pass Murray, but the Briton read it well and diverted a volley into the right flank of the court.

Murray almost broke again as he brilliantly engineered three set points but he shrugged off Wawrinka's resistance and served out a high calibre set of tennis in 39 minutes, leaking just five unforced errors along the way.

The set ensured Murray of progress to the next stage, but he wanted top spot to avoid Djokovic next and duly set about putting a visibly deflated Wawrinka to the sword.

The Scot moved 4-0 ahead in a five-game winning streak that proved decisive within the context of the match. The world number one still needed to fend off a couple of break points thanks largely to a strong first-serve percentage, and in doing so he denied the Swiss any hope of a comeback.

Murray then served it out in one hour and 27 minutes to secure his spot in the last four for the first time since 2012 and keep alive the prospect of a final showdown against Djokovic, with both the title and the end-of-year number one spot on the line.