A year ago, Holger Rune won the biggest title of his career at the Rolex Paris Masters. This year in Paris he will try to secure his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals.
Rune enters the final ATP Masters 1000 of the season in the final qualifying position at the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. The 20-year-old leads ninth-placed Hubert Hurkacz by 215 points with two weeks left in the regular season.
Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin (October 29)
Hurkacz had a golden opportunity to close the gap to just 15 points on Sunday in the Basel final, but the Pole lost to Felix Auger-Aliassime in two tiebreaks. The 2021 Torino contender now has ground to make up if he is to push into a qualifying spot.
There are several interesting segments in the Paris draw that could lead to races with significant Live Race consequences. An example is Rooney could play Taylor Fritz with the 10th pick in the third round.
The American, who reached the semifinals at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, is 225 points behind Rune. A third-round win against the defending champion wouldn’t push him past the Dane, but it would limit Rune to just 90 points for the week and give him a chance to make up significant ground with a deep run. However, if they play in the third round and Fritz loses, he will be ruled out of Torino contention.
Another consecutive third-round matchup could pit Hurkacz against 2022 Nitto ATP Finals runner-up Casper Ruud. Both former season finale competitors look on for now.
The next two players in line to qualify are sixth-seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas and seventh-seeded Alexander Zverev, who lead Rune by 595 points and 180 points, respectively. Tsitsipas is trying to qualify for the fifth consecutive year and Zverev for the sixth.
They could also meet in the third round in Paris. If they meet and Zverev loses, it could put the German under pressure from players trying to move into a qualifying position.
Five singles players have earned their place in Turin: Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Yannick Sinner and Andrei Rublev. The top 8 players in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin after the final week of the regular season on November 11 will qualify for the year-end championships.