Croatia’s Marin Cilic and Austria’s Dominic Thiem have clinched the two final spots at the prestigious season-ending tournament, to be held from 11-18 November at The O2 in London, as a result of Friday’s play at the Rolex Paris Masters.

Cilic has secured his place at the season finale for the fourth time (also 2014, 2016-17), while Thiem will compete for the third consecutive year. They will join World No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain, Serbia’s five-time former champion Novak Djokovic, Swiss six-time former titlist Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, Germany’s Alexander Zverev and first-time participant Kevin Anderson of South African at the elite event.

Buy Your Tickets

This season, the 30-year-old Cilic claimed his second Fever-Tree Championships crown at The Queen’s Club in June (d. Djokovic), and reached his third Grand Slam championship final (also 2014 US Open and 2017 Wimbledon) at the Australian Open in January (l. to Federer). He also advanced to semi-finals at two Masters 1000 tournaments — the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (l. to A. Zverev) and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati (l. to Djokovic) — plus the last four at the Tata Open Maharashtra (l. to Simon), an ATP World Tour 250-level event in Pune. World No. 7 Cilic, who rose to a career-high No. 3 in the ATP Rankings on 29 January 2018, has won at least one ATP World Tour title for 11 consecutive years (2008-2018). His 18 career titles are the second-most for a Croatian behind Goran Ivanisevic with 22 crowns.

Thiem, 25, has recorded 50+ match wins for the second time in his career — compiling a 53-17 match record with three titles, bettered only by his 2016 season when he posted a 58-24 mark with four titles. The World No. 8 has lifted trophies in 2018 at three ATP World Tour 250-level tournaments — the Argentina Open in Buenos Aires (d. Bedene), the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes Lyon (d. Simon) and the St. Petersburg Open (d. Klizan). He also finished as runner-up at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal), his first Grand Slam championship final, and for the second successive year at the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Zverev), a Masters 1000 event.

In the doubles field, Oliver Marach/Mate Pavic, Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah, Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo, Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, Mike Bryan/Jack Sock, Raven Klaasen/Michael Venus, Nikola Mektic/Alexander Peya and Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut have secured their places.

Per ATP rules, the doubles field will be determined on 5 November following the conclusion of the Rolex Paris Masters, the final tournament of the regular ATP World Tour season. On that date, it will be determined what the eight teams will be as both Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan and also Mike Bryan and Jack Sock currently have sufficient points in the ATP Doubles Race To London to secure a place at the season finale. Bob Bryan has been sidelined due to a hip injury since May, but he may be fit enough to return with his twin brother to the prestigious event.

2018 DRAW CEREMONY:
The draw for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals will be conducted live on The One Show (from 7-7:30pm GMT) on BBC One television on Monday, 5 November.

2018 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, will this year honour players from the 2000s. As such, the group names for singles and doubles will honour players who enjoyed remarkable success at the season finale during that decade:

In singles:
– Group Guga Kuerten (containing the No. 1 seed) – 2000 champion
– Group Lleyton Hewitt (containing the No. 2 seed) – 2001 and 2002 champion

In doubles:
– Group Knowles/Nestor (containing the No. 1 seeds) – 2007 champions
– Group Llodra/Santoro (containing the No. 2 seeds) – 2005 champions

The Nitto ATP Finals welcomes more than 250,000 fans to The O2 arena annually, as well as generating global viewership figures reaching an average of 95 million viewers each year, as the ATP’s best eight singles players and doubles teams compete over eight days at the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic saved two match points to defeat John Isner and Neal Skupski 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 12-10 on Friday, advancing to the semi-finals of the Rolex Paris Masters. The Austrian-Croatian team, by virtue of their quarter-final victory and the rest of the day’s results, have clinched the year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Team Ranking. 

Marach and Pavic are pursuing their fifth tour-level title of the season, with their most recent triumph coming at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open in May. They were the first duo to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November. This will be their fifth semi-final at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in 2018, with Marach and Pavic trying to capture their first team title at this level. 

In the last four, the top seeds will face Marcel Granollers and Rajeev Ram, who upset third seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo, the defending champions, 6-1, 6-4. It is the first time Granollers and Ram have competed together. 

On the other half of the draw, Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat sixth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus 7-6(4), 6-0. They will play home favourites Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut or Mike Bryan and Jack Sock for a spot in the final.

Austria’s Oliver Marach and Croatia’s Mate Pavic have clinched the year-end No. 1 ATP Doubles Team Ranking for the first time as a result of Friday’s play at the Rolex Paris Masters, the final event of the regular ATP World Tour season.

“It’s been an unbelievable year,” said Marach. “Winning three tournaments in a row, and coming close in a fourth final, was incredible. We played solid tennis throughout the year, reached another Grand Slam final at Roland Garros and now, here again in Paris, we’re in the semi-finals. We’re very happy. “

Pavic said, “We had a great year and a good start. Overall, we lost two or three first rounds, with lots of quarter-finals and semi-finals. We’re extremely happy to finish the year at No. 1 and we’re looking forward to finishing strongly this week, and also [at the Nitto ATP Finals] in London.”

Marach and Pavic have captured four doubles titles in 2018. They opened the year by lifting three consecutive trophies at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Murray/Soares), the ASB Classic in Auckland (d. Mirnyi/Oswald) and their first Grand Slam championship at the Australian Open (d. Cabal/Farah). Their 17-match winning streak to start 2018 came to an end on 18 February with a runner-up finish at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Herbert/Mahut), one of three ATP World Tour 500-level final appearances this season.

The players captured their fourth team crown of 2018 at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open (d. Dodig/Ram) in May. In addition to their runner-up finish in Rotterdam, Marach and Pavic contested their third Grand Slam final at Roland Garros (l. to Herbert/Mahut) in June, the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. to Bryan/Bryan), an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in April, plus the German Tennis Championships 2018 presented by Kampmann (l. to Peralta/Zeballos) and the China Open in Beijing (l. to Kubot/Melo).

Chris Kermode, the ATP Executive Chairman & President, said, “To finish the season as the year-end No.1 team is the ultimate accolade, a reflection of excellence and consistency throughout a gruelling doubles season that covers 67 tournaments across 31 countries. From January to November, it’s the prize that all teams are chasing, and Oliver and Mate should be hugely proud of their achievements. On behalf of the ATP, many congratulations on a remarkable season.”

Marach, 38, is the oldest member of a year-end No. 1 doubles team since 38-year-old Sherwood Stewart in 1984. The 25-year-old Pavic is the youngest member of a year-end No. 1 doubles team since Todd Woodbridge, 24, in 1995. They are the first Austrian and first Croatian to finish No. 1 in any of the ATP Rankings respectively (singles, doubles, team).

Together, Marach and Pavic have compiled a 5-8 record in tour-level finals and were the first team to qualify for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November. In 2017, the Austrian-Croatian tandem went 1-3 in title matches, including a runner-up finish at Wimbledon (l. to Kubot/Melo).

Disguise. Concealment. Battering ram.

Where you hit your first serve on the first point of your service game is not always your favourite spot, or the highest percentage location, or even to your opponent’s weaker side.

But sometimes it is, and that’s where the mental warfare rages between players at the beginning of a game.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of first serve location on the first point of a service game from the current Top 10 in the 2018 season reveals a variety of strategies to successfully navigate to 15/0. The data set comes from ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events this season coming into the Rolex Paris Masters.

The Secret Sauce Is In The Mix
Roger Federer is a master at alternating his serve patterns. This season, he has made 32 first serves down the T to begin his service games and 33 out wide. He has turned the first point into a clever guessing game, delivering an even mix of locations so that his opponents won’t be sitting on a specific spot.

Other players within a 10 percentage point range between T and wide include Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kevin Anderson and Dominic Thiem.

Current Top 10: 2018 Serve Locations at Love-all at Masters 1000 events.

There Is A Distinct Preference
The next grouping of players has a greater than 10 percentage point difference between T and wide, showing an obvious preference to a specific location. For example, Alexander Zverev served down the T 54.0 per cent (68) of the time, out wide 41.3 percent (52), and at the body 4.7 per cent (6) of the time. Grigor Dimitrov also gravitated more down the T (56 T / 39 wide), while Marin Cilic and John Isner directed more first serves out wide at Love-all.

And In A Category Of His Own…
The only player left in the data set is World No. 1, Rafael Nadal, whose left-handed serve patterns look nothing like the rest of the group. Below is the breakdown of his first serve location at Love All.

• T = 58 (67%)
• Body = 17 (20%)
• Wide = 12 (13%)
• Total = 87

Nadal was the only player to serve more at the body than out wide, and he had by far the greatest disparity between T serves and wide serves (67% to 13%).

Nadal has won 65.5% (38/58) of his first serves down the T this season, which is almost identical to his win percentage out wide at 66.7% (8/12). His strategy is akin to a battering ram to his right-handed opponent’s backhand return, almost always delivering a Serve +1 forehand to begin the point for the Spaniard. It’s a lethal “1-2” punch that is almost impossible to break down.

Overall, there is no overarching game plan that the Top 10 all stick to with their first serve location on the first point of a game. They are either hitting it where they want, hitting it where the opponent does not expect it, or bombarding a specific location that they know is simply unbeatable.