Henri Kontinen and John Peers will make their team debut at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals next month. The Finn/Aussie pairing became the seventh doubles team to qualify for the year-end championships on Monday with a 6-2, 6-2 rout against Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris.

“We knew what we had to do and it was good to be able to do it,” Peers said.

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Kontinen/Peers converted all four break points and erased the only two break points they faced in the 46-minute victory. They’ll face seventh seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the second round.

“We’re going to finish here, try to concentrate here on every match,” Kontinen said, “and then our eyes are on London.”

Kontinen/Peers have raced to three ATP World Tour titles this year, ending the week with smiles in Hamburg, Munich and Brisbane. They also finished runners-up at the Shanghai Rolex Masters and are going for their first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament title this week in France.

Kontinen has never played at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held 13-20 Nov. at The O2 in London. He will also become the first Finn to compete at the season finale. Peers played at the event last season with Jamie Murray. The top eight doubles teams at the end of this week will qualify for the season finale. Huey/Mirnyi are next in line to qualify.

“London is the biggest tournament – the top eight teams in the world,” Peers said. “It was definitely our goal to be able to make The O2.”

Pablo Carreno Busta, who is knocking on the door of the Top 30 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, cruised to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over Fabio Fognini on Monday at the BNP Paribas Masters. Carreno Busta, a winner of two ATP World Tour titles this year at the Winston-Salem Open (d. Bautista Agut) and VTB Kremlin Cup (d. Fognini), won 84 per cent of his first serve points, while Fognini committed 33 unforced errors in the 52-minute encounter. The Spaniard will next meet fourth seed Milos Raonic, who reached the 2014 final (l. to Djokovic).

Last Stop Before London: The final tournament of the regular season on the ATP World Tour takes place in Bercy with the BNP Paribas Masters. Seven players are in contention to battle for the final two spots at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London. The 48-player draw includes four former winners, led by three-time reigning champion (four overall) Djokovic (2009, 2013-15), David Ferrer (2012) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2008), and Tomas Berdych (2005). Djokovic is the only four-time winner in the history of the tournament.

Two Spots Left in London: Seven players are within mathematical reach of Marin Cilic, who holds the eighth and final spot with 3,090 points, 210 points ahead of Tomas Berdych. The seven players still alive in the London hunt are: Dominic Thiem, Cilic, Berdych, David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut, Vienna finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Lucas Pouille.

A Look Ahead in Paris: There are several potential third-round matches that could be critical in determining who is eliminated from London contention.

In the top half of the draw, Cilic (3,090), who passed Berdych for the final spot in London, is on a third-round collision course with Goffin. Cilic will square off against countryman Karlovic or a qualifier in the second round, while Goffin plays the winner of Nicolas Mahut and Martin Klizan. Djokovic is looming as a likely quarter-final opponent in that section.

In the bottom half, No. 7 seed Berdych (2,880), who must reach the semi-finals to have a chance for London, could meet No. 10 seed Bautista Agut (2,340) in the third round – who must win the title to have a London shot. No. 11 seed Tsonga, who could face No. 5 seed Nishikori in the third round, must win the title to have a chance for London. No. 13 seed Pouille (2,106) will likely need to advance past World No. 2 Murray – and go on to win the title – to keep alive his London hopes.

2016 ATP Masters 1000 Finals: The Big Four have accounted for seven of the eight ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles this season, with Djokovic leading the way with four crowns, Murray with two and Nadal with one.

Big Four Dominance: The ‘Big Four’ of Djokovic, Federer, Murray and Nadal have won 55 of the past 60 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments, which dates back to Nadal’s triumph at Monte-Carlo in 2010. The only other players to emerge with an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title are Robin Soderling (2010 Paris), David Ferrer (2011 Paris), Stan Wawrinka (2014 Monte-Carlo) , Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (2014 Toronto) and Marin Cilic (2016 Cincinnati).

Doubles Draw: There are 10 of the Top 12 teams in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London in the Paris draw. There are five teams battling for the final two spots in London. The No. 7 (Kontinen/Peers) and No. 8 teams (Huey/Mirnyi) meet in the first round. No. 9 Rojer/Tecau, last year’s champions in London, must reach the semi-finals AND have Huey/Mirnyi lose in the first round to have a chance. No. 10 Cabal/Farah must reach the final AND have Huey/Mirnyi lose in the first round to have a chance. No. 12 Benneteau/Roger-Vasselin must win the title AND have Huey/Mirnyi lose in the first round to have a chance.

World No. 1/Reigning Champion: World No. 1 and reigning champion (four overall) Djokovic is making his 12th straight tournament appearance. He has a 26-6 career record in Bercy, having won the title in 2009 and from 2013-15. He began with a 3-4 record in his first four appearances before going 23-2 the past seven years (W/O in ’11). 

Djokovic has compiled a 59-7 match record (41-4 on hard) on the season and is co-leader on the ATP World Tour with seven titles, including crowns at the Australian Open and Roland Garros and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Toronto. On Monday, it will mark the 223rd week overall he has ranked No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, which is fifth most (since Aug. 23, 1973). He has held No. 1 every week since July 7, 2014, a streak of 122 consecutive weeks. Djokovic is trying to finish No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the third straight year and fifth time in six years (except ’13).

Roland Garros/Bercy Double: In June, Djokovic completed a career Grand Slam by capturing his first Roland Garros title (d. Murray). It was his 12th attempt at Roland Garros. The only player to win Roland Garros and Bercy titles in the same year was Andre Agassi in 1999.

French Title Hopes: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is the last French player to win the Bercy title. The 2008 champion is one of 11 Frenchmen in the main draw. Since then, Gael Monfils was runner-up in 2009-10 and Tsonga in ’11. The other French winners in Bercy are Sebastien Grosjean in 2001 and Guy Forget in 1991.

In Case You Missed It

Andy Murray closed in on No. 1 with a title in Vienna. Read

Marin Cilic topped Kei Nishikori in the Basel final. Read

Who are the seven players vying for the two remaining London berths? Read

Jack Sock and Marcel Granollers won doubles in Basel. Read

Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo repeat in Vienna. Read

Birthdays

3 November – Lukas Lacko (29)

7 November – Alexandr Dolgopolov (28)

Milestones

Paris – Singles

Novak Djokovic: 745 wins

Kei Nishikori: 299 wins

Paris – Doubles

Jean-Julien Rojer: 295 wins

Nicolas Mahut: 248 wins

Henri Kontinen: 99 wins

Jack Sock: 98 wins

A LOOK BACK

Latrobe City Traralgon Challenger (Traralgon, Australia): Top seed Jordan Thompson enjoyed the taste of victory on home soil in Traralgon, lifting his fourth ATP Challenger Tour trophy of the year. Thompson downed Grega Zemlja 6-1, 6-2 in 65 minutes, firing seven aces and converting five of 15 break points. The Aussie extends his win streak to 10 straight, following a title run in Ho Chi Minh City two weeks ago. He is one of four players to win four or more titles this year, joining Facundo Bagnis (5), Gerald Melzer (4) and Yen-Hsun Lu (4). 

“It feels great,” said Thompson. “I always love playing in Australia. It’s good to make the final, like I did last year, but to go one better is great. I’m playing well and winning two in a row is an awesome feeling. Going back-to-back in two different countries doesn’t come often.” 

WHB Hungarian Open (Budapest, Hungary): Unseeded Romanian Marius Copil dominated at the inaugural event in Budapest, not dropping a set en route to the title. The Tecnifibre player defeated fourth seed Steve Darcis 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday’s final, claiming his third ATP Challenger Tour title and first since 2013. Challenger tennis returned to the Hungarian capital for the first time since 2005 and will make its ATP World Tour debut next year on red clay.

Lima Challenger Copa Claro (Lima, Peru): It has been three years since a 16-year-old Christian Garin burst onto the scene in winning his first ATP World Tour match in Vina del Mar and claiming the Roland Garros junior title a few months later. Fast forward to 2016 and the Chilean is just outside the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings after claiming his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Lima, Peru. Garin defeated Guido Andreozzi 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(3) on Sunday, having not dropped a set all week entering the final. He joins Gonzalo Lama as Chilean winners on the Challenger circuit this year.

Andreozzi represented the 25th Argentine finalist (17-8 record) on the ATP Challenger Tour this year.

Argentine Dominance Of The South American Swing

KPIT-MSLTA Challenger (Pune, India): World No. 359 Sadio Doumbia completed one of the more improbable title runs of the year, claiming his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Pune on Saturday. The Frenchman defeated four seeded opponents, including a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 comeback over eighth seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran for the championship. It was the first final this year to feature players outside the Top 300 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

The 26-year-old Doumbia is the ninth different Frenchman to win a title this year, impressively rallied from a set down in four of his five matches. His first career Top 200 victory came in defeating top seed Evgeny Donskoy in the quarter-finals.

China International Suzhou (Suzhou, China): Top seed Yen-Hsun Lu dominated the final at the $75,000 event in Suzhou, streaking past #NextGen star Stefan Kozlov 6-0, 6-1 in 52 minutes. It was the fewest games in a completed ATP Challenger Tour final this year. Lu extended his record title haul with his 26th crown, winning his second in as many weeks. Kozlov was appearing in his third Challenger final and remains in search of his maiden title. He will break into the Top 150 of the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time.

A LOOK AHEAD

There are four tournaments on four continents next week, with defending champion Gastao Elias the top seed in Guayaquil, Ecuador, reigning champ and #NextGen star Noah Rubin competing in Charlottesville, U.S.A., Jordan Thompson seeking a third straight Challenger title at the Canberra Tennis International, and home hope Florian Mayer leading a strong field in Eckental, Germany.