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.china jerseys authentic . The Americans, skipped by John Shuster, seized the advantage in the eighth end by scoring five points for a 7-3 lead. The Czechs pulled two back in the ninth, but Shusters team of third Jeff Isaacson, second Jared Zezel and lead John Landsteiner ended with another point to secure the last Olympic berth on offer. cheap nhl jerseys authentic .com) - The game was all punts and field goals before Kodi Whitfields catch. http://www.chinajerseyscheapwholesale.com/ . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. china jerseys . Louis Rams wide receiver Stedman Bailey last Sunday. The fine is the fourth this season for Goldson. He was fined $30,000 for a hit on the New York Jets Jeff Cumberland in Week 1. china jerseys wholesale . Argentina winger Ezequiel Lavezzi and France midfielder Blaise Matuidi scored, with star striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic setting up both despite having a poor game by his high standards. Forward Eduardo gave Ajaccio the lead in the sixth minute after being set up by right winger Benjamin Andre, and the Corsican side looked comfortable in the first half, with the lively Johan Cavalli causing problems with his probing runs from midfield.GREEN BAY, Wis. -- As the yards and points allowed add up at a huge rate, Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy is staying the course.McCarthy reiterated Monday what he said after the Packers latest crushing loss the previous night: now is not the time to make any drastic changes, especially with a defense that is low on manpower and high on allowing big plays.Theres no reinventing the wheel, McCarthy asserted. Weve talked about this since the day I arrived here. We have a system of football -- offense, defense and special teams -- that accommodates any football player on our roster. If weve got to reinvent the wheel in Week 11 or Week 12, we havent set our plan the right way for the season.Theres not much time left for the Packers to get the season turned back in the right direction after host Washington pummeled them 42-24 on Sunday night.The Packers are in the throes of their first four-game losing streak since late in the 2008 season, the last time they didnt make the playoffs. At 4-6, they are two games behind NFC North front-runners Detroit and Minnesota.Most troubling for Green Bay is opponents have figured out the clear way to beat the Packers is to go deep against the porous back end of their defense.Kirk Cousins exploited a short-handed secondary that thinned out even more during the game by throwing for 375 yards and three touchdowns. The Packers allowed 515 yards, a season high, and 40-plus points for the second straight week after giving up 47 in a 22-point loss at Tennessee.You cant win ballgames giving up that many points, no matter whos on offense, defensive back Micah Hyde lamented after Sundays game. Our offense can score a lot of points and move the ball, do what they do, but if we give up that many points, were not going to win any games. And weve seen that the last couple of weeks.The hemorrhaging with the defense has been going on for nearly a month. Green Bay has given up 30 or more points in each game during the skid, its longest such streak of allowing so many points in a game since 1953.dddddddddddd The 153 points allowed are the most by the Packers in a four-game stretch since the 1951 team gave up 156 its final four weeks.The Green Bay defense has been responsible for all but seven of those points in the last four contests, during which the opposition has averaged more than 420 yards per game and thrown for nearly 1,250 yards and 12 touchdowns.To the chagrin of McCarthy, the Packers have forced only two turnovers in those games. Theyve had zero the last two weeks.The biggest hole in our football team is our turnover ratio, said McCarthy, whose club is minus-6 in turnover margin. Ive been talking about it all year. Were not taking care of the football, were not taking the football away. Until that changes, were going to be fighting uphill.Defensive coordinator Dom Capers simply said, No excuses, on Monday even as the injuries mounted for the defense.Already playing without top cornerbacks Sam Shields and Damarious Randall, the Packers lost replacement starter Demetri Goodson to what McCarthy termed a significant knee injury in the first half Sunday.Green Bay later had starting rookie linebacker Blake Martinez (knee) and contributing rookie safety Kentrell Brice (neck) leave the game as the Redskins pulled away in the second half with touchdown passes of 44 and 70 yards and a few other big plays.Thats when kind of all hell broke loose, Capers said.McCarthy said Randall is getting closer to returning to action, perhaps by next Monday night, when the Packers end their three-game road swing against the Philadelphia Eagles.I think what happened (Sunday) is very correctable, and weve got to go back to work and correct it because we know weve got to go to Philly and find a way to win a game, Capers said.---For more NFL coverage: http://www.pro32.ap.org and http://www.twitter.com/AP-NFL ' ' '