Rafael Nadal clinched the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Wednesday for the fourth time. But the Spaniard’s season is not over yet.

Nadal continued his pursuit of a first Rolex Paris Masters title with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas to advance to the quarter-finals. The left-hander’s best result at the event came in 2007, when he lost in the final against David Nalbandian.

In the bigger picture, Nadal earned his 18th win in his past 19 matches, gaining momentum ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, another event at which he will try to win his first title.

Nadal was certainly tested by Cuevas, who trailed by a set and a break. But the Uruguayan battled, breaking back immediately before overcoming a 2/4 deficit in the second-set tie-break to force a decider. In the third set, Cuevas overcame a 0-3 hole to get back on serve, but Nadal’s aggressive baseline play was simply too good on the day.

Cuevas hung in there against Nadal’s massive forehand, and produced some excellent shotmaking himself in what was an entertaining match, including a forward-facing tweener passing shot for a winner.

Nadal takes the set.

Cuevas gets the style points.

??#RolexpMasters pic.twitter.com/2OCz7Y3DjI

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 2, 2017

It was just the sixth time during Nadal’s recent hot streak that he dropped a set, excluding his loss against Roger Federer in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Nadal will open a new FedEx ATP Head2Head series on Friday, when he plays qualifier Filip Krajinovic for the first time. The Serbian evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup with wild card Nicolas Mahut at 1-1, beating the Frenchman, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, to advance to the quarter-finals after never previously making the third round of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

Krajinovic eliminated 10th seed Sam Querrey in the second round, ending the American’s hopes of qualifying for his first Nitto ATP Finals. Krajinovic is playing just his second tour-level event since winning back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles in Rome and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The winner will play one of two London contenders, ninth-seeded John Isner or the No. 13 seed, Juan Martin del Potro. Third seed Marin Cilic beat 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the last match of the day on Thursday evening, so del Potro can clinch his spot in London by beating Isner.

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David Goffin has become the first Belgian singles player in the 48-year history of the Nitto ATP Finals to qualify for the prestigious season finale. He will join World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, six-time champion Roger Federer, debutants Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov, and former qualifiers Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic in the elite eight-man field at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

Goffin is the seventh player to secure his place as a result of play at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday. He served as an alternate at 2016 Nitto ATP Finals, replacing the injured Gael Monfils in one round-robin match (l. to Djokovic).

“I would have preferred to have qualified by winning my match and Lucas is a friend but I am still so happy to have qualified!” said Goffin. “It is every player’s dream to make the (Nitto ATP) Finals and it is my first time there so I can’t wait to get to London!”

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The 26-year-old Goffin has compiled the best season of his career, with his first 50+ match wins record and as the first Belgian to break into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 10 on 20 February. He ended a six-match losing streak in finals with back-to-back ATP World Tour titles in October at the Shenzhen Open (d. Dolgopolov) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 in Tokyo (d. Mannarino).

He also finished as runner-up in consecutive finals in February at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open (l. to Dimitrov) and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Tsonga). Goffin earned the biggest victory of his career over then No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic in April at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Nadal in SFs) and has compiled a 21-5 match record since 28 August.

With less than one week left of the regular 2017 ATP World Tour season, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta currently holds the last remaining qualification berth, but could still be ousted by one of Juan Martin del Potro, Roberto Bautista Agut, John Isner and Jack Sock subject to results in Paris this week.

The eight-team doubles field is already set, featuring Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo, defending champions Henri Kontinen/John Peers, 2015 titlists Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, four-time former winners Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Ivan Dodig/Marcel Granollers and Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus.

The Nitto ATP Finals welcomes more than 250,000 fans to The O2 arena each year, as well as generating a global TV viewership of more than 100 million, as the ATP’s best eight singles players and doubles teams of the season compete over eight days at the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

Julien Benneteau fell to as low as No. 696 in the Emirates ATP Rankings last January. After one of the great wins of his career, that seems far away.

The Frenchman thrilled his raucous home crowd at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday, eliminating seventh seed David Goffin, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final since Shanghai in 2014.

And as special a moment it was for Benneteau, it was devastating for Goffin. The Belgian could have clinched his first berth in the Nitto ATP Finals by taking out the Frenchman. But instead, he had to nervously await the results of other London contenders.

But luckily for the Belgian, 16th-seeded Jack Sock guaranteed Goffin’s spot in the year-end finale by defeating 17th-seeded Lucas Pouille, 7-6(6), 6-3. If Pouille continued on, it could have complicated qualifying scenarios for Goffin. But the 26-year-old became the seventh player to book his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals nonetheless. He appeared in the event last season as an alternate.

“I would have preferred to have qualified by winning my match and Lucas is a friend, but I am still so happy to have qualified,” said Goffin. “It is every player’s dream to make the (Nitto ATP) Finals and it is my first time there, so I can’t wait to get to London!”

Before Thursday’s loss, Goffin led his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Benneteau 1-0, having defeated him in the first round of this year’s US Open in four sets. Their only other meeting came at an ATP Challenger Tour event in 2011, which Benneteau won.

Benneteau will play the winner of third seed Marin Cilic and another London hopeful, No. 14-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, who contest the final match of the day on Court Central.

Sock will play Fernando Verdasco, who maintained his good form, upsetting fifth seed Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-4.

For the American, it is a major opportunity to turn around the end of his season. He arrived in Paris having lost three of his past 10 matches. And it looked like the slump would continue when he fell behind Kyle Edmund 1-5 in the third set in Wednesday’s second round. But ever since, Sock has been on a roll, taking out the rising star from Great Britain before ousting the home favourite, Pouille, eliminating any chance the Frenchman had of earning his first London berth.

While his hopes are still slim, Sock can give himself a chance to qualify for the year-end finale for the first time by winning the title in Paris. He would need help from other London contenders to earn the event’s final spot.

Sock won his only past FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Verdasco in Stockholm two years ago.

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“At 31 years old, you’re the oldest player to finish the year at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.”

“Really?”

After beating Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters to ensure he finished the year as World No. 1 for the fourth time in his career, Rafael Nadal was in awe to learn that he is the oldest player to achieve that feat since the Emirates ATP Rankings were established in 1973.

“It was an amazing year, just amazing,” said Nadal, who also finished atop the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2008, 2010 and 2013. “I never would have imagined I would end up as No. 1 at the end of the season again. Finishing the year as No. 1 means a lot to me. It wasn’t one of my goals going into the season — far from it. After returning from a difficult period in my career and battling through injuries, this wasn’t on my mind.”

Nadal’s climb back to the top would have been hard for anyone to predict. In January, when he returned to the ATP World Tour at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp after closing his 2016 following the Asian swing, looking to recover from his left wrist injury, Nadal began the year ranked No. 9. By August, the Spaniard was ranked No. 1 leading into the US Open and had clinched his 10th French Open title. After claiming the US Open crown and a successful campaign in Asia, in which he won the China Open and was runner-up to Roger Federer at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, finishing the year at the top suddenly seemed realistic.

“When the opportunity (to end the year at No.1) presented itself, it became my goal,” Nadal said. “The Asian swing was very important for me, because the points I gained during that time were valuable.”

Returning to the top spot at a certain point in the year and actually ending the year at No. 1 are two separate accolades, according to Nadal, and the Spaniard feels it’s extra special to close out the year as the best player in the world.

“Being No. 1 for a part of the year is great, that’s obvious, but ending the year No. 1 is even better,” Nadal said. “The two things are beautiful and important, but without a doubt there’s a big difference, if you ask me. In the end, this is like a league and when you finish a year as No. 1, it means you were the best player for that season.”

Nadal is also aware of what it means to be the oldest player to end the year on top, considering he’s had to battle back from numerous injuries throughout his career.

“It means many things,” the 16-time Grand Slam champion said. “It means that I’ve had a very long and successful career. It means that I have maintained my form. It means that I have kept the desire to play, despite the adversities that come with injuries. It means a lot after all I’ve been through. When I receive the trophy in London [for ending the year at No. 1], it will be an exciting time for me because I thought it would not happen again.”

Ending 2017 as No. 1 means Nadal achieves another milestone in tennis history: More than nine years have passed since the first time (2008) and the most recent time he accomplished the feat (2017) — an incredible testament to his longevity.

“The gap between the first time I finished No. 1 and now is very wide,” Nadal said. “Therefore, it also means a lot to be able to continue playing at this level for so long.”

Nadal has now set his sights on two more goals to close out the year: to claim this week’s Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals — two titles that have so far eluded him.

“Now I can try to do my best to end the season without thinking about it,” said Nadal. “Playing without that tension loosens me up to fulfill other objectives. The season is not over. I’m in Paris, possibly the most important city of my career. I want to give it my best and close out the year with even more success.”

Juan Martin del Potro continued his march towards a Nitto ATP Finals spot on Thursday when he defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4 for a place in the Rolex Paris Masters quarter-finals for the third time (also 2009, 2013).

The popular Argentine, who was at No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Race To London prior to the start of the US Open, is now up to No. 10 on 2,595 points — only 20 points behind Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (2,615), who sits in the last automatic qualification berth.

Del Potro, the No. 13 seed this week, has gone 20-4 since 28 August and will now look to move past Carreno Busta with a victory on Friday over sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or ninth seed John Isner of the United States.

In recent weeks, Del Potro has captured his 20th tour-level title at the Intrum Stockholm Open (d. Dimitrov) and finished runner-up at the Swiss Indoors Basel (l. to Federer). He has a 38-15 mark on the season.

The 29-year-old Del Potro has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on four previous occasions (2008-09, ’12-13), highlighted by a run to the 2009 title match (l. to Davydenko). The season finale begins at The O2 in London on 12 November.

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Juan Martin del Potro is still in the hunt for a place in the Nitto ATP Finals. The Argentine kept his chances of playing in the year-end tournament alive by defeating Joao Sousa 6-2, 6-2 in his opening match at the Rolex Paris Masters on Wednesday. Still, it’s his health that remains his top priority.

“I’m tired, but I’m still on track to achieve my goal for the year,” del Potro said after reaching the last 16 of the final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the season, where he’ll face Robin Haase on Thursday. “Five weeks ago, I was [No. 47] in the Emirates ATP Race to London. Today, I’m in a different situation, but my ultimate goal remains the same: to finish the year healthy.”

Del Potro is proud of his recent form and values the fact he’s been able to stay active. Since his semi-final run at the US Open, del Potro has played in Beijing, Shanghai, Stockholm, Basel and now Paris, where he’s competing for one of the two finals spots in London. His busy schedule is in stark contrast to past years, when injuries plagued him and he cut his seasons short.

“It’s the first time in several years that I’ve been healthy enough to play this many tournaments in a row,” del Potro said. “Last year, I didn’t even play here. I think I’ve played more matches than anyone since the US Open this year.”

Del Potro has taken steps to maintain his conditioning and to guarantee his longevity. The 29-year-old, who has undergone four wrist surgeries, is aware he needs to be in peak physical condition to keep pace with the top players on the ATP World Tour.

“I’ve been working on my stamina and in other areas to stay in shape and to keep evolving,” del Potro said. “I feel like I’m improving every week since my return. I happen to compete in a very competitive era. It’s a privilege to have the likes of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray as rivals, but in another era, I might have had more Grand Slam wins on my record.”

With momentum now on his side and health issues finally behind him, del Potro relishes the chance to play in the Nitto ATP Finals if he can clinch his spot this week.

“I would love to be in London,” del Potro said. “I’m making a very strong effort to be there; I’m putting myself through a lot, but I’m enjoying every minute of it. After that, I can think about vacation, but if I can finish this year in good health, I’ll be very excited for 2018.”

View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups for Day 4 of the Rolex Paris Masters and vote for who you think will win!
Nadal vs. Cuevas | Thiem vs. Verdasco | Del Potro vs. Haase

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