PARIS, November 13, 2009 (AFP) - Andy Murray brushed off his early exit at the Paris Masters on Thursday saying he was on course for a strong finish to the season at the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The 22-year-old Scot looked weary and frustrated at times in losing 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 to Czech veteran Radek Stepanek in a third round tie, but having played until 1:45 am the night before to win his second round match he had a reasonable excuse for his lacklustre performance.

The defeat also came just four days after he won his season-best sixth tournament in Valencia having returned to action after five weeks on the sidelines to heal a painful left wrist.

"By the time I get to London I don't think it's going to affect me at all," Murray said of his loss.

"My goal was to get in good enough shape to compete well in London. I think the goal that we've set has been achieved. I played a lot of long matches, came through them reasonably well.

"I'll be match fit for my first match there. The wrist is fine, which is great. It would have been a bit of a nightmare to come back and had problems with that."

Murray said that he would take a few days off and then get down to training for the season-ending tournament which brings together the top eight players in the Masters series in a two group, round-robin format.

The centre court at the O2 Arena, which will be hosting the November 22-29 tournament for the first time, is not due to be laid until next Thursday or Friday, but he will be able to use courts being laid at Queen's instead.

"I'll spend some time in the gym as well and get myself in good shape and give it my best shot for one last push in London," he said.

Murray will start among the favourites for what will be his second appearance in the World Tour Finals following his run to the semi-finals in Shanghai last year where he beat Roger Federer in the group stage.

But he believes that it is a very open field with each of the eight players having a shot at succeeding Novak Djokovic as champion.

"It's going to be difficult to say," he said. "Obviously Novak has been playing well since the US Open, very well.

"Roger for sure is going to play well in London. If Rafa (Nadal) is physically good then he's one of the toughest competitors ever.

"All of the guys that are there are going to have a shot at winning it."