ATPWorldTour.com takes a detailed look at the storylines in St. Petersburg and Metz.

Strong Fields in St. Petersburg, Metz – There are two European indoor tournaments on the ATP World Tour this week with the St. Petersburg Open and Moselle Open in Metz. They are the first two of 13 tournaments leading into the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. A maximum of 4,000 Emirates ATP Ranking points are on the line over the next seven weeks before the season finale in London from 15-22 November. There are four players in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings in action, including Tomas Berdych and Milos Raonic in St. Petersburg and Stan Wawrinka and Gilles Simon in Metz.

Emirates ATP Race to London – There are five players competing this week in contention for the four remaining spots to the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Wawrinka, at No. 4, has already qualified. Here is a look at the Race standings:

St. Petersburg Open (St. Petersburg) – The St. Petersburg Open celebrates its 20th edition as it returns to the ATP World Tour following a one-year hiatus. Now staged at the world-class Sibur Arena, the event was held from 1995 to 2013 at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex. Leading the way is World No. 6 Berdych and No. 9 Raonic are the top two seeds making their debut in the 28-player draw. Both are trying to qualify again for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. Rising Austrian star Dominic Thiem, a three-time winner this season, is the No. 3 seed and Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut is the No. 4 seed. The other seeds are: No. 5 Tommy Robredo, No. 6 Benoit Paire, No. 7 Joao Sousa and No. 8 Mikhail Kukushkin.

Past Champions Return – Three former champions return to Russia this week: local favourite Mikhail Youzhny (2004), Mikhail Kukushkin (2010) and Ernests Gulbis (2013). Youzhny (9-20) and Gulbis (8-20) have struggled this season, though the Latvian may receive a confidence boost as the defending champion. Kukushkin, on the other hand, arrives in good form after upsetting No. 17 seed Grigor Dimitrov en route to the third round at the US Open (l. to Cilic in 5 sets).

Berdych’s Road to London – Headlining the St. Petersburg Open is top-seeded Berdych, who returned to the Top 5 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on 14 September. Berdych is seeking his first ATP World Tour title of the season and trying to qualify at London for the sixth straight year. The Czech, who turned 30 on 17 September, has won at least two matches at 14 of his 15 tournaments in 2015.

Raonic’s Rocket Serve – Raonic owns one of the most effective serves that the ATP World Tour has ever seen according to Infosys ATP Scores and Stats. While aces are often the stat most associated with big servers, Raonic ranks second among all players in a category that leads more directly to match wins. He holds in 91 per cent of his service games overall.

Thiem Youngest Three-Time Winner – Entering the 2015 season, Dominic Thiem had yet to win an ATP World Tour singles title. He won all three titles at the age of 21 before turning 22 earlier this month. The Austrian makes his St. Petersburg debut with three titles to his name.

Rublev Rising – At 17, Andrey Rublev is the youngest player in the Top 250 of the Emirates ATP Rankings. The World No. 176 has already won more tour-level matches before the age of 18 than every teenager ranked ahead of him, including 33rd-ranked Borna Coric (seven wins as a 17-year-old).

Youzhny Success in St. Pete – For one player in particular, the return of the St. Petersburg Open is reason to rejoice. Russian Mikhail Youzhny has won the most matches in event history with 31 victories spread across 12 consecutive appearances (2002-13). One of the most consistent players on the ATP World Tour, Youzhny is 8-20 on the year and fell outside the Top 100 in July for the first time since January 2001.

Moselle Open (Metz) – The 13th Moselle Open features the top three seeds of Roland Garros champion Stan Wawrinka, Wimbledon quarter-finalist Gilles Simon and US Open quarter-finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. In addition, US Open doubles champions Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut are the top seeds in the doubles draw. Wawrinka beat both Simon (R16) and Tsonga (SF) in Paris en route to his second Grand Slam title. The remaining seeds are: No. 4 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 5/wild card Philipp Kohlschreiber, No. 6 Martin Klizan, No. 7 Adrian Mannarino and No. 8/wild card Fernando Verdasco. Five of the past six champions in the 28-player draw are Frenchmen:  Simon in 2010 and last year, Tsonga (2011-12) and Monfils (2009). Belgian David Goffin won the title last year.

Stan’s Road to London – Headlining the Moselle Open is World No. 4 Stan Wawrinka, playing in France for the first time since defeating Novak Djokovic for the Roland Garros title on June 7. The Swiss is one of only two players to reach the quarter-finals or better at all four Grand Slam events in 2015 (also Djokovic). By advancing to the US Open semi-finals, Wawrinka joined Djokovic, Roger Federer and Andy Murray in qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals .

Flying the French Flag – Two-time champions Gilles Simon and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lead a strong contingent of six Frenchmen vying for the Moselle Open title. Simon is hoping that the home-court advantage will help him snap a four-match losing streak, while Tsonga arrives in Metz after advancing to the US Open quarter-finals (l. to Cilic in five sets). Also in the singles draw from France are US Open doubles champs Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, Auckland and Bogota finalist Adrian Mannarino, and Kitzbühel runner-up Paul-Henri Mathieu.

Stars Rise in Metz – The Moselle Open has served as a springboard for some of the ATP World Tour’s brightest stars. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic won the first of his 41 hard-court titles at Metz in 2006. Two-time Grand Slam champ Andy Murray reached the final one year later. Frenchmen Richard Gasquet (first final in 2004) and Gael Monfils (first hard-court title in 2009) also enjoyed breakthroughs in Metz, while David Goffin of Belgium captured his maiden hard-court title here last year. In the 12 months since, Goffin has risen from No. 45 to No. 15 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Homecoming For US Open Champs – On September 13, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut became the first all-French team to win the US Open doubles title. In doing so, they emerged as the ninth different doubles champion of the last nine Grand Slam events (18 different players). Herbert and Mahut also reached the Australian Open final this year (l. to Bolelli/Fognini).

Rankings Movers (as of 21 September 2015)

Bernard Tomic 20 (+3 spots) – career-high
Jack Sock 28 (+1 spot)
Leonardo Mayer 36 (+3 spots)
Sergiy Stakhovsky 50 (+3 spots)
Steve Darcis 59 (+5 spots)
Nicolas Almagro 77 (+7 spots)
Damir Dzumhur 83 (+3 spots)
Marco Cecchinato 90 (+5 spots) – career-high
Andrey Kuznetsov 93 (+4 spots)
Dusan Lajovic 96 (+6 spots)

Potential Milestones (as of 21 September 2015)

St. Petersburg – Singles
Teymuraz Gabashvili – 99 match wins

Metz – Singles
Gilles Muller – 145 match wins