Russia’s Andrey Rublev has booked a place at the lucrative ATP Finals in Italy after two rivals in the race for the tournament suffered defeat at the Paris Masters on Wednesday.
Heading into this week’s event in France, Rublev had been chasing one of two spots still available at the season-ending ATP Finals, which get underway in Turin on November 13.
The two players who could have deprived the Russian of a place at the tournament were Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and American Taylor Fritz, both of whom needed to make the final in Paris to overtake Rublev in the standings.
However, Hurkacz and Fritz both lost their second-round matches in the French capital on Thursday – guaranteeing that Rublev and Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime will be among the eight contenders in the ATP Finals singles event.
Rublev, 25, will be making his third appearance at the prestigious season finale, which this year will offer a record $14.75 million in total prize money – including a potential payday of almost $5 million to the winner.
Russian world number three Daniil Medvedev had already booked his place in Turin, despite a shock second-round exit at the Paris Masters on Wednesday.
The line-up for the ATP Finals also includes current world number one Carlos Alcaraz, 22-time Grand Slam winner Rafael Nadal, Norwegian world number four Casper Ruud, Greek player Stefanos Tsitsipas, and 21-time Grand Slam champion Novak Djokovic.
In his past two appearances at the ATP Finals in 2020 and 2021, Rublev failed to make it out of the round-robin group stage, but will be aiming for better fortunes this season.
Rublev has already captured four tour titles in 2022, the most recent of which came in Gijon last month.
Ahead of the ATP Finals, the world number nine remains in contention at the Paris Masters 1000, and plays his third-round match against Denmark’s Holger Rune at the Accor Arena on Thursday.