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LONDON -- Taking the court as the No. 1-ranked player for the first time, Andy Murray got the job done.The Wimbledon champion was tested for much of his opening match at the ATP finals but still came out on top, playing in his home country and beating Marin Cilic 6-3, 6-2 Monday at the O2 Arena.It was obviously nice to play in that stadium with the crowd like that. It obviously helps, Murray said. After a long, kind of, few months, its nice to know that Im going to be finishing the year playing in that sort of atmosphere.Murray took over at the top of the rankings last week, replacing Novak Djokovic. But the year-end No. 1 ranking is still up for grabs and could be decided on Sunday if both Murray and Djokovic reach the final.The prospect of attaining that, however, doesnt seem to be weighing too heavily on Murrays mind.The last few days, I havent thought about it too much, Murray said. It didnt change much for me.It certainly hasnt affected his ability to win matches. Murray has won a career-high eight titles this season, including a second Wimbledon title in July and a second straight Olympic gold medal in August. Since then, he has won titles in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and Paris.The latest victory on Monday didnt come so easy. Murray struggled to win his service games in the first set against Cilic, but still ended up saving all but one of the five break points he faced in the match. On the other side, he converted four of his five break points.When I need to step in, I didnt. When I need to wait a little bit longer, I wasnt waiting, said Cilic, the 2014 U.S. Open champion. The hitting could have been better. Yeah, a little bit unfortunate to go 6-3, 6-2 down, where it felt it was much, much closer in the first set. Beginning of the second, I had couple chances as well.In the early match, Stan Wawrinka finally lost a match at the ATP finals to someone who hasnt been ranked No. 1 in the world. The U.S. Open champion, who has reached the semifinals of the season-ending tournament for the last three years, was beaten by Kei Nishikori 6-2, 6-3.It was not a great match compared to what I can do, thats for sure, said Wawrinka, a three-time Grand Slam champion. I dont 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.Wawrinka holds a 6-7 record at the tournament for the top eight players in the world, but his previous six losses were against Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal -- twice to each.Mondays loss doesnt mean Wawrinka is out of the tournament, but it hurts his chances of finishing the year as the No. 3-ranked player. Wawrinka, Nishikori and Milos Raonic all have a chance to end up one spot behind Murray and Djokovic.Im sure I still have something inside me to play some great tennis before the end of the year, so Im going to try everything for that in the next match, Wawrinka said. Im going to do what I need to do tomorrow to get ready for trying to play better in two days.Nishikori, currently ranked fifth, helped his own chances of reaching that third spot by breaking Wawrinka twice in each set while not allowing a single break point on his serve.Im not thinking too much about rankings, but would be nice if I could finish 4 or 3, Nishikori said. I see good chance to be there if I can play good this week. Cheap Shoes NZ .875,000, avoiding arbitration. Clippards deal Monday means all eight Nationals players who filed for arbitration wound up settling before a hearing. Shoes NZ From China . Zvonareva, who won the tournament in 2009 and 10, couldnt handle her opponents big groundstrokes in only her third event back after 17 months out with a shoulder injury. Zvonareva made her comeback in January in Shenzhen and played in the Australian Open but lost her first matches at both tournaments. https://www.shoesnzonline.com/ .ca looks back at the stories and moments that made the year memorable. Shoes NZ 2020 . Kyle Denbrook, a soccer player from Saint Marys University, took the CIS male athlete of the week honour. Stanley, a fourth-year business administration student from Charlottetown, scored both goals in a 2-0 win over Dalhousie on Friday and tallied again in a 1-0 win over Saint Marys on Sunday. Shoes NZ Outlet . Toronto has dropped games to Indiana and Miami since a five-game winning streak and closed out a three-game road trip at 1-2. There is never much need for any promotional buildup when the Portland Timbers and Seattle Sounders FC square off on the pitch but when the two sides meet Sunday afternoon at Providence Park it will be more about pride that any real shift in the Western Conference table.One of North American soccers longest and most heated rivalries, the Pacific Northwest derby between the Timbers and Sounders dates back to the 1975 North American Soccer League (NASL) season, Portlands first year as a professional club. The Timbers have registered an overall record of 33-47-12 all-time against Seattle and a mark of 6-8-4 during the MLS era, in all competitions.Sundays match is the first of three regular-season meetings scheduled between the rivals this season.Portland has been the better team as of late and is unbeaten in its past eight league matches. Most recently, the Timbers (6-6-8, 26 points and in seventh in the Western Conference) battled the Montreal Impact to a 1-1 home draw as forward Jack McInerney scored his fifth regular-season goal of the MLS season.The draw was the Timbers fourth in five matches and snapped Portlands two-matchh shutout streak.ddddddddddddhe Portland Timbers signed Lithuanian left-back Vytautas Andriuskevicius on Thursday to bolster its defense.We have been looking to add a more natural left-back that fits our system on both sides of the ball during this window, and we feel Vytas is a good fit for our club and the league, Timbers general manager Gavin Wilkinson said.He has experience playing in strong European leagues and for his country at the international level and, at 25, is in the prime of his career.Seattle (6-10-2, 20 points and in ninth place) is coming off an impressive 5-0 home victory over conference-leading FC Dallas on Wednesday, the Sounders only victory in their past five matches.Seattle has a 1-5-2 record on the road this season and is led by rookie forward Jordan Morris, who ranks first on the team in goals scored (six).The Sounders will be without forward Clint Dempsey in Sundays match after the United States National Team stalwart received a red card in the victory against FC Dallas. 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