World number one Andy Murray took a step closer to the last four with his gruelling three-sets victory over Japanese star Kei Nishikori in his second match at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
The 29-year old saw off Nishikori 6-7 (9-11) 6-4 6-4 despite losing a tie-break in three hours and 20 minutes making it the longest match at the event since it moved to London in 2009.
Murray, who will need to avoid a straight sets loss in his final match on Friday in the John McEnroe group to make the semi-final, will face Wawrinka, who saw off Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (7-3) 7-6 (7-3) to end his opponents' last four hopes.
In a related development, David Goffin of Belgium will contest Serbian world number two Novak Djokovic's final match in London on Thursday as a replacement for Gael Monfils, who has already been eliminated following two straight losses against Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic in his opening two matches.
Monfils has been struggling with a rib injury since the Stockholm Open and has been replaced by Goffin. On the injury, Monfils said: "I tried to make it, but I couldn't."
Djokovic is in the frame for the world number one spot and a win over David Goffin of Belgium will hand him 200 points in that quest. The Serbian has to win all his matches at the tournament to reclaim his world number one spot back from Andy Murray.
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