The eight-player singles field for the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals is set. Matteo Berrettini clinched the final spot at the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London, following results at the Rolex Paris Masters on Friday.

The 23-year-old Berrettini is the first Italian player to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals in singles since Corrado Barazzutti in 1978, when the event was contested in New York City. Adriano Panatta, who played at Stockholm in 1975, was the first Italian to compete at the season finale. Bolelli and fellow Italian Fabio Fognini competed together in the 2015 doubles competition.

Eight different countries are represented at the Nitto ATP Finals for the fourth consecutive year. Berrettini joins fellow debutants Daniil Medvedev of Russia and Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas alongside former qualifiers Rafael Nadal of Spain, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer of Switzerland, Austria’s Dominic Thiem and defending champion Alexander Zverev of Germany. It will be the first time that there will be four players aged 23 & under in the season finale since 2009 — Juan Martin del Potro (21), Djokovic (22), Andy Murray (22) and Nadal (23).

Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman and President, said: “This year looks to be one of the most interesting player fields in the history of the tournament with the established superstars of the ATP Tour challenged by the next generation. The longevity of the Tour’s global icons combined with the impressive rise of the future stars of our sport over the past couple of years has made for a fascinating spectacle. It’s all to play for in London.”

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Berrettini, who was World No. 57 on 11 March, has soared up the ATP Rankings this year to a career-high No. 9 (28 October) with more than 40 match wins for the first time in his career. This year, the Monte-Carlo resident won two ATP Tour titles at the Hungarian Open in Budapest (d. Krajinovic) in April and at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart (d. Auger-Aliassime) in June. He reached the BMW Open by FWU final in Munich (l. to Garin) in May, and also captured his third ATP Challenger Tour title in Phoenix (d. Kukushkin) in March.

In recent months, Berrettini became the second Italian man to reach the US Open semi-finals (l. to eventual champion Nadal) — and the fourth to advance to the last four of a Grand Slam championship, following in the footsteps of Barazzutti, Panatta and Marco Cecchinato. Earlier this month, he beat two Top 10 players (No. 5 Thiem, No. 10 Bautista Agut) en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

The eight-team doubles field for the Nitto ATP Finals is led by Wimbledon and US Open champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah, who have already clinched year-end No. 1 for 2019. Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, and Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek have also clinched their berths at The O2 in London.

2019 DRAW CEREMONY:
The draw for the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals will be made on Tuesday, 5 November and will be streamed live via the official ATP Tour Facebook page. Further details will be published in due course.

2019 GROUP NAMES:
The Finals Club, an initiative launched by the ATP in 2015 as a way of celebrating the past champions and heritage of the season-ending tournament since its inception in 1970, has honoured former champions through the naming of groups over the past four years. This year’s groups will be named as follows:

In singles:
– Group A will be named in honour of Andre Agassi, the 1990 winner and 14-time qualifier. 
– Group B will be named in honour of Bjorn Borg, the 1979 and 1980 winner.

In doubles:
– Group A will be named in honour of Max Mirnyi, the 2006 and 2011 winner.
– Group B will be named in honour of Jonas Bjorkman, the 1994 and 2006 winner.

The ATP’s crown jewel event is to be held at The O2 in London through to 2020, where it has been staged to wide acclaim since 2009. The event has successfully established itself as one of the major annual sporting events worldwide, broadcast in more than 180 territories with global viewership figures reaching an average of 95 million each year.

Alejandro Davidovich Fokina will compete at the 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. The Spaniard entered the field on Friday after Denis Shapovalov withdrew due to fatigue from the award-winning 21-and under tournament, which starts Tuesday at the Allianz Cloud in Milan.

Here are five things to know about the 20-year-old Davidovich Fokina.

1. He has a unique game
Forget enduring baseline rallies that are common throughout today’s game; Davidovich Fokina prefers the drop shot. During his run to the Millennium Estoril Open semi-finals in May, the then-19-year-old executed the shot often to beat France’s Gael Monfils and make the last four (l. to Cuevas).

Davidovich Fokina became the youngest Spaniard to reach an ATP Tour semi-final since 19-year-old Rafael Nadal won the 2006 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell title.

“I had to play smart against [Monfils] and the drop shot is my best shot and I had to use it a lot against him,” Davidovich Fokina told ATPTour.com. “[I learned it] when I was three years old. It’s a part of me.”

Watch Hot Shot: Davidovich Fokina Is Drop Shot King In Estoril

2. A late surge brings him to Milan
On 21 October, Davidovich Fokina was 13^th in the ATP Race To Milan, with 554 points. But by 28 October, when the Race ended, Davidovich Fokina had climbed into 10^th place (627 points), thanks to his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the season at the 2019 Liuzhou Open in China.

The Spaniard beat Uzbekistan’s Denis Istomin in the Liuzhou final. Istomin famously upset six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the second round of the 2017 Australian Open after four hours, 48 minutes. Davidovich Fokina also won the Seville ATP Challenger Tour event in September, beating countryman and 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist Jaume Munar.

“With Jaume, there are always those nerves because I know he is a very consistent player. He doesn’t miss any shots. I started a little more nervous, but in the second set I was more explosive and aggressive. I have relied much more on myself, and I also wanted to not lose a fourth final,” Davidovich Fokina said.

Watch: Monfils Shows Sportsmanship To Davidovich Fokina

3. He is a Wimbledon champion
Davidovich Fokina won the 2017 Wimbledon boys’ singles title, beating Argentina’s Axel Geller in the final. He became only the second junior Wimbledon champion from Spain and the first in 50 years (Manuel Orantes, 1967).

“I’m very happy to be the second [Spanish] junior champion of Wimbledon. I’m in shock,” Davidovich Fokina told Wimbledon.com. “I was thinking, ‘Okay, I want to win this. I want to show the people who I am, that I want to play tennis, professional tennis. I want to show them what I want to do with my life.’”

More On Davidovich Fokina
#NextGenATP First-Time Winner: Spaniard Claims Seville Title
Davidovich Fokina Breaks Through In Estoril
Davidovich Fokina Reflects On Top 100 Breakthrough

4. He is optimistic about his future
Davidovich Fokina checked off two massive goals in 2019: Cracking the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings and securing direct entry into the main draw of the 2020 Australian Open. The Spaniard started the season at No. 237 in the ATP Rankings but shaved 155 places off his ATP Ranking and will enter Milan at a career-high No. 82.

“Breaking through [into the Top 100] is a huge step,” he told ATPTour.com. “I see big things in my future. Even though it’s been a tough battle this year with lots of ups and downs, I’m trying to finish the season with strong results.”

5. He is gracious and loyal to his longtime coach
Davidovich Fokina credits his longtime coach Jorge Aguirre for much of his success. Aguirre has coached Davidovich Fokina since he was a child.

“I’ve had a great team backing me from the start,” says Davidovich Fokina. “They push me to learn and to grow every day. They’ve helped to build me into the player I become when I step on the court.”

After emphatically snapping a six-match winless record in the third round of the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday, Grigor Dimitrov claimed another straight-sets victory to book his place in the semi-finals on Friday.

Backing up his impressive 72-minute win against Dominic Thiem, the Bulgarian survived a late test to move past Cristian Garin 6-2, 7-5 in 89 minutes. Dimitrov is through to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final since the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April 2018.

Since dropping the opening set in his first-round match against Ugo Humbert, Dimitrov has claimed eight consecutive sets to improve to 13-7 at the ATP Masters 1000 event. The 28-year-old is through to his second semi-final of the year after making his third Grand Slam semi-final appearance at the US Open in September.

Dimitrov will meet Novak Djokovic or Stefanos Tsitsipas for a spot in the championship match. The World No. 27 owns one victory from nine FedEx ATP Head2Head encounters against Djokovic and is yet to meet Tsitsipas on the ATP Tour. Dimitrov will be aiming to reach his first final since a runner-up finish at last year’s ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (l. to Federer).

Dimitrov started quickly, attacking Garin’s forehand and playing with variety to jump into a 3-0 lead. Dropping just four points behind his first serve (16/20), the eight-time ATP Tour titlist maintained his advantage to 5-2 before dictating play with his forehand to earn a second break and, with it, the first set.

After trading breaks early in the second set, Garin capitalised on a series of errors from Dimitrov to serve for the set at 5-4. But the Bulgarian raised his level to move through to the semi-finals. Dimitrov played with aggression on his forehand and varied the pace on his backhand to earn three straight games and a place in the last four.

Garin ends his breakthrough season on the ATP Tour with a 31-22 record. The 23-year-old became the first Chilean to win an ATP Tour trophy since Fernando Gonzalez in 2009, lifting ATP 250 crowns on clay in Houston and Munich.

Four-time Rolex Paris Masters champion Novak Djokovic will look to even the score against Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas on Friday when the two meet for the second time this season in the Paris quarter-finals.

The World No. 1 lost to Tsitsipas just three weeks ago in the quarter-finals of the Rolex Shanghai Masters and trails the 21-year-old 1-2 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The Greek also beat Djokovic last year at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto, but Djokovic beat Tsitsipas in the Mutua Madrid Open final in May.

“He’s a very good player, he has improved and he’s very professional and trains a lot,” Djokovic said of Tsitsipas. “That reflects positively on his game. He’s one of the best players in the world, so I’m looking forward to that challenge.”

But more than just bragging rights in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry will be on the line. If Djokovic falls to 1-3 against Tsitsipas, his hopes of finishing as the year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the sixth time could take a significant hit.

A Djokovic loss in the quarter-finals would mean Rafael Nadal could guarantee his place atop the year-end standings for the fifth time by making the Paris final. But Djokovic, as he has stated throughout the week, isn’t worrying about the battle for year-end No. 1; he’s focussed on the task at hand, and in this case, that will be shaking off his recent loss against Tsitsipas after winning the first set in Shanghai.

“I was a set up and close [in the] second set. I couldn’t finish it off, and the match was turned around,” Djokovic said. “I’m hoping that I can start off the match as well as I did in Shanghai but also keep going to the end.”

Tsitsipas, who will compete in the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time from 10-17 November at The O2 in London, seeks his first ATP Masters 1000 title. The Greek star, who triumphed at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals, has already made the semi-finals at three Masters 1000 events this year (Madrid, Rome, Shanghai).

The winner of Djokovic-Tsitsipas will meet an unseeded player: 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champ Grigor Dimitrov or two-time ATP Tour titlist Cristian Garin of Chile. Dimitrov and Garin will be meeting for the first time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

The 23-year-old Garin, who won clay-court titles earlier this year in Houston and Munich, is seeking his first semi-final at this level against the 2017 Cincinnati titlist.

Gael Monfils will try to book a return trip to the Nitto ATP Finals when he meets #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov. Monfils came back to beat Radu Albot on Thursday evening in front of a passionate Paris crowd, and the 33-year-old will surely look to get the crowd engaged early and often against the 20-year-old Shapovalov, who is seeking his second Masters 1000 semi-final of the season (Miami, l. to Federer).

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is looking to continue rolling back the clock at his home Masters 1000 event. The Frenchman, who won this title in 2008, is through to his first Masters 1000 quarter-final since Paris 2016 and will face second seed Rafael Nadal, who has looked sharp in his first two matches.

Nadal, playing in his first ATP Tour event since the Laver Cup in September, won in straight sets against home favourite Adrian Mannarino and Swiss Stan Wawrinka. Regardless of how Djokovic fares, Nadal can clinch his fifth year-end No. 1 finish by winning his first Paris Masters 1000 crown.

Brits Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski made their third consecutive ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final on Thursday, upsetting second seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos 6-3, 3-6, 11-9 at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Murray and Skupski joined forces during the grass-court season, and they have found their stride over the past few months, making the semi-finals in Cincinnati, Shanghai and at the US Open. They will next face fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who lifted the Roland Garros trophy this year.

Granollers and Zeballos, who were clinging to their dreams of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals, were not the only victims of the upset bug on Thursday. London qualifiers Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury ousted top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah 7-5, 5-7, 10-3. The American-British pair did not drop a service point in the Match Tie-break.

Ram and Salisbury, who triumphed in Vienna last week, will next face eighth seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in what will be a crucial match in the ATP Doubles Race To London. Dodig and Polasek, who eliminated Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin 2-6, 6-3, 10-8, are in a tight battle with Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin for the final doubles spot at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Chardy and Martin kept their hopes alive with a 6-2, 6-3 victory against Divij Sharan and Artem Sitak. They will next play seventh seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in an all-French match.

Russians Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov converted on eight of 11 break points to beat New Zealand’s Marcus Daniell and Austrian Philipp Oswald 6-4, 7-5. They will try to overcome Canadian Denis Shapovalov, who remains in the singles draw, and Indian Rohan Bopanna. Shapovalov and Bopanna ousted Argentine Maximo Gonzalez and American Austin Krajicek 6-1, 6-3 beind strong serving, winning 92 per cent of their first-serve points.

The stars aligned for a spooky coincidence on Halloween at the Rolex Paris Masters Thursday: Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Stefanos Tsitsipas all collected their 50^th wins on the season.

Tsitsipas, who reached the milestone for the first time, also notched his 100^th career match win with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Australian Alex de Minaur, whom he also defeated in the title match of the 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals.

Djokovic followed next with a 7-6(7), 6-1 win over Briton Kyle Edmund to record his 12^th 50+ wins season, tying the mark of Ivan Lendl. Only Roger Federer (15) and Jimmy Connors (14) have done it more.

Nadal, who on Monday is guaranteed to usurp the No. 1 ATP Ranking from Djokovic, reached 50 wins in a season for the 11^th time following a 6-4, 6-4 win over Stan Wawrinka.

Russian Daniil Medvedev leads the tour with 59 match wins this year. Federer is currently second with 51.

Players With 50+ Match Wins in 2019

Most Career 50 Win Seasons

– Statistical assistance from Greg Sharko

Rafael Nadal extended his mastery against Stan Wawrinka on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, beating the Swiss 6-4, 6-4 to make his seventh ATP Masters 1000 Paris quarter-final.

Nadal now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 19-3 and has won their past six meetings, dating back to the 2015 Nitto ATP Finals. The Spaniard also clinched his 11^th 50-win season with the straight-sets victory.

“My serve worked well and the volley, too. I have been going to the net a couple of times, serve and volley. I think I have been focussed and tried to hold the serve during the whole time,” said Nadal, who won all 10 of his net points.

“I think my game worked well. On the return today, [it] was a little bit difficult. I think I didn’t return as well as I was doing previous days… But it’s true that Stan always has a good serve and [is] difficult to read. So [it was] an important victory for me, honestly, against a tough opponent again.”

The World No. 2 broke the 16th-seeded Wawrinka in the third game and escaped danger on his own serve by erasing a break point in the eighth game. Both players gave away little in the third-round clash that saw a combined 37 winners to 32 unforced errors.

But Wawrinka, who would have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals had he won the tournament, didn’t see another break point the rest of the way and was broken during a loose service game at 4-4 in the second set. Nadal also won all 10 of his net points.

The 33-year-old Spaniard is looking to finish as year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the fifth time. He will guarantee that milestone if he wins three more matches and wins the Paris Masters 1000 for the first time, which would be a record-extending 36th Masters 1000 crown.

Next, Nadal will meet France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who saved two match points to beat German Jan-Lennard Struff 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(6). Struff led 6/4 in the third-set tie-break, but Tsonga kept his nerve while hitting a crosscourt volley to make it 5/6.

Struff then netted a backhand and an overhead to give Tsonga a match point, which he seized to reach his seventh quarter-final of the season and first Masters 1000 quarter-final since 2016 Paris.

“It was a very tight match. It could have been the opposite scenario, it was only a few points in a row. I’m very satisfied with my match. He played very well,” Tsonga said.

The 2008 champion is going for his third title of the season but trails Nadal 4-9 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“These matches make you improve. When you play the best, it’s always beneficial and it’s not important whether you win or lose. When you play Rafa in the first round, it’s a problem. If you play Rafa in the quarter-finals, it’s normal,” Tsonga said. “Of course, it’s better for me to meet Rafa in quarter-finals after having played a few matches rather than during the first round.”

Denis Shapovalov is playing his best tennis just in time for next week’s Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. The 20-year-old Canadian earned his third Top 10 win and second of 2019 on Thursday, fighting past Nitto ATP Finals qualifier Alexander Zverev 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 to reach the Rolex Paris Masters quarter-finals.

The match featured 30 break points, but Shapovalov came through the most, converting five of his 17 chances against Zverev, who secured his third consecutive trip to the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London, on Wednesday.

On 20 October, Shapovalov won his first ATP Tour title at the Intrum Stockholm Open and now he’s into his fourth Masters 1000 quarter-final and second of the season (Miami). The left-hander will next face France’s Gael Monfils or Radu Albot of Moldova.

Shapovalov will be making his second appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals, which starts Tuesday at the Allianz Cloud in Milan.