Toppling Novak Djokovic and topping the rankings is not a priority, insists Andy Murray

The world number one, who is the three-time defending champion here, set up a last-eight clash with ninth seed Marin Cilic thanks to a 4-6 6-2 6-3 triumph over his Bulgarian opponent.

The Serbian will maintain his spot at the top of the world rankings ahead of Andy Murray should he win his next two matches to reach the Paris final.

Second seed Murray kept the heat on in his challenge for the top spot as he recorded a straight-sets victory over Lucas Pouille.

The 29-year-old Scot fired down six aces in a 6-3 6-0 win in 73 minutes on Centre Court after winning eight consecutive games to see off the Frenchman.

However the Wimbledon champion insisted that finishing top of the ranking by the end of 2016 was not a priority for him

“I can’t control that,” he said. “If Novak reaches the final, he keeps that spot.

“I just want to finish the year as best as I can.

“The goal wasn’t to get to number one this year, but if it happens that’s great.

“I’ve got a few months at the start of next year, February and March, where I didn’t play very well at the beginning of this year and so can pick up points.

“That’s the time when I was looking at as potential to do it, so I’m not stressing about it now.”

Earlier in the day, Croatia’s Cilic defeated eighth-seeded Belgian David Goffin with a 6-3 7-6 (11/9) win to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals, which get under way in London on 14 November.

The 2014 US Open champion joins Djokovic, Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Raonic, Kei Nishikori and Gael Monfils in the line-up for London.

Others who went through in Paris included fourth-seeded Canadian Milos Raonic who progressed thanks to a 4-6 6-1 6-2 victory over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay. Richard Gasquet suffered a 6-2 3-6 7-5 defeat to America’s Jack Sock in front of his home crowd, while Sock’s compatriot John Isner also progressed following a 5-4 6-7 (4/7) 6-3 win over Jan-Lennard Struff.