Intro:

Tomas Berdych kept alive his ATP World Tour Finals challenge with a 6-3, 6-1 victory over US Open champion Marin Cilic in London on Wednesday.

Script:

Tomas Berdych put his poor start to the ATP World Tour Finals behind him by defeating Marin Cilic in another one-sided clash at London's O2 Arena on Wednesday.

The pair both lost their opening matches 6-1 6-1, with Berdych beaten by Stan Wawrinka and Cilic losing to Novak Djokovic in the joint heaviest defeats since the tournament moved to Britain in 2009.

Berdych showed much improved form on Wednesday afternoon, but US Open champion Cilic was still well below his best and succumbed 6-3 6-1.

The Czech maintained his odd record of having lost his first match and won his second on each of his five appearances in London, which has only once been good enough to take him through to the semi-finals.

The result means Wawrinka can qualify for the last four on Wednesday night with victory over Djokovic, but the world number one will have to wait until his final match whatever the result.

Even with his poor record, Cilic is not yet eliminated, but it would take a hugely unlikely sequence of events for him to go through.