Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, two of the most successful players in the history of the season finale, have joined World No. 1 Rafael Nadal as qualifiers for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 11-18 November.

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Five-time former champion Djokovic clinched his place in the elite field for the 11th time by reaching the US Open final on Friday with victory over Kei Nishikori of Japan, which meant that six-time titlist Federer automatically sealed his spot for a record 16th season as a result of the Grand Slam champion rule*.

The 31-year-old Djokovic made 10 straight appearances at the prestigious season-ending tournament from 2007-2016, compiling a 31-11 record with titles in 2008, 2012-15. He also reached the 2016 final, finishing runner-up to Andy Murray in a match that decided who finished year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings.

Djokovic has returned to his peak-performance days in 2018 with his fourth Wimbledon trophy (d. Anderson) in July and a historic first Western & Southern Open title in Cincinnati (d. Federer), which saw him become the first singles player to capture all nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns in the history of the series (since 1990). Having won 21 of his past 22 matches, the Serbian will play Juan Martin del Potro, who is currently in third in the ATP Race To London, in his seventh US Open final on Sunday.

Federer will make a 16th visit to the season finale, having competed in 2002-15 and 2017, with a 55-13 match record, including titles in 2003-04, 2006-07, 2010-11. He also reached the final on four other occasions, finishing runner-up to David Nalbandian in 2005 and to Djokovic in 2012, ’2014-15.

More than 14 years after he first became No. 1, Federer returned for a six-week stint to the top of the ATP Rankings on 19 February 2018, breaking a number of records — the longest period between stints at No. 1, the oldest player to attain top spot and for the longest duration between first and last days at the summit of men’s professional tennis. He also held the top spot on two other occasions, in the week beginning 14 May (one week) and from 18 June (one week), for 310 weeks overall.

The 37-year-old Swiss retained the Australian Open crown (d. Cilic) in January, marking his 20th Grand Slam championship trophy, and the following month he captured the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title in Rotterdam (d. Dimitrov), after which he returned to No. 1 for the first time since 4 November 2012. Federer picked up the 98th trophy of his career at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart (d. Raonic), and also finished runner-up at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Del Potro), which broke a 17-match winning streak, the Gerry Weber Open in Halle (l. to Coric) and in Cincinnati.

Del Potro is the next in line to qualify for the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals, which would mark his first appearance at The O2 in London since 2013. Alexander Zverev of Germany, Croatia’s Marin Cilic, Kevin Anderson of South Africa and Austria’s Dominic Thiem hold down the fifth through eighth spots in the ATP Race To London.

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.

* The Grand Slam champion rule is for a current-year major championship winner, who is guaranteed to finish between Nos. 8-20 in the ATP Race To London.

Twelve months ago, Novak Djokovic sat at home as Rafael Nadal lifted the trophy at the US Open. What a difference a year makes. On Sunday, the two-time champion will have the opportunity to reclaim his throne at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.

Not only did Djokovic defeat Kei Nishikori 6-3, 6-4, 6-2 to reach his eighth US Open final on a steamy evening in Flushing Meadows, but in doing so, the Serbian secured his place at the Nitto ATP Finals, qualifying for the season finale at The O2 in London for the 11th time.

The battle of boisterous backhands was owned by Djokovic, who dominated from the baseline throughout the encounter. Nishikori had little response for his penetrating ground game, as the Serbian refused to allow his opponent to step into the court and establish any rhythm. Rattled by Djokovic’s trademark defence, Nishikori struck 51 unforced errors and faced 17 break points during the two-and-a-half hour affair. 

“I was coming into today’s match knowing I’m going to play a player who is very quick and takes away a lot of the time from his opponent,” said Djokovic. “He just likes to go for his shots. I knew that if I managed to sustain that speed of his shots, that I’ll have my chance to kind of break through and to make him feel uncomfortable and start making errors.

“That’s what happened. I thought in the important moments I came up with some good second serves, some good first serves. I was returning well. I was putting constant pressure on him, trying to move him around the court, take away the rhythm from him, not give him the same look always. The match was really, really good from my side.”

Djokovic sets a championship clash against Juan Martin del Potro, who advanced to the final earlier on Friday. They have not met in more than a year, but the former World No. 1 will take great confidence from a 14-4 edge in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry. He captured both of their previous US Open meetings (2007 third round and 2012 quarter-finals).

The Belgrade native reached his 102nd tour-level final and 23rd at the Grand Slam level. Also the champion at Wimbledon in July, he extended his win streak in majors to 13 straight. After battling through a pair of four-set encounters to open the fortnight in New York, he has since not dropped a set en route to Sunday’s championship. Moreover, Djokovic has conceded just two breaks in that span.

The World No. 6 is bidding to add to US Open triumphs in 2011 and 2015 when he faces Del Potro on Sunday. His eight final appearances move him into a tie for the Open Era record, alongside Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras. 

Djokovic did not waste any time under the lights on Arthur Ashe Stadium, converting his fifth break chance for an immediate 2-0 lead. After relinquishing just four points on serve in the opener, he continued to apply pressure in the second set. Facing 2-2 0/40, Nishikori saved a break point with a beautiful drop shot, but was unable to stave off the Serbian’s offensive barrage for long. 

Refusing to flinch, the 31-year-old surged to a two-set lead and snatched the decisive break for 2-1 in the third, as a Nishikori backhand found the net. It was one-way traffic from there, as Djokovic celebrated his 39th match win of the year after two hours and 22 minutes, securing his second match point with a lunging backhand winner.

Djokovic improves his dominant FedEx ATP Head2Head edge over Nishikori to 15-2, having now won 14 straight meetings since the 2014 US Open. He has claimed all four encounters this year – at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Madrid and Rome, as well as in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Most Grand Slam Finals (Open Era)

After an elbow injury forced Djokovic to miss the final four months of the 2017 season, he will return to the Nitto ATP Finals from 11-18 November. The five-time champion joins Nadal and Federer in punching their tickets, with the Swiss also qualifying on Friday. Djokovic remains in second in the ATP Race To London with 5,645 points.

Nishikori, meanwhile, caps an impressive fortnight in the U.S. metropolis. The Japanese star continued his quest to return to the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings in his comeback from an elbow injury, and is projected to ascend to No. 12 on Monday. It was the 28-year-old’s first major semi-final since the 2016 US Open.

“He was playing very solid with everything: serve, return and groundstrokes,” said Nishikori. “He was playing aggressive. I didn’t have much energy to stay with him. He was hitting side to side. I think I was just tired from the last couple matches. I was trying to give 100 per cent, but he was playing very solid. Maybe if he wasn’t Novak, I might have chance to play a little better. But he was playing great tennis today. Credit to him.

“It was a very good tournament. Maybe not today, but the last couple matches I played great tennis. I beat a couple good guys: Cilic and Diego [Schwartzman]. I’m really happy to be here, in the semis again.”

Juan Martin del Potro is moving into his second Grand Slam final. After the 2009 champion took the first two sets 7-6(3), 6-2, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal retired after experiencing knee soreness.

Nine years ago, the Argentine captured his first Grand Slam title here in Flushing Meadows. But four wrist surgeries would send him as low as No. 1,045 in the ATP Rankings in February of 2016. Now, the ‘Tower of Tandil’ is arguably better than ever, at a career-best No. 3 and trying to come full circle where he first broke through nearly a decade ago.

Del Potro owns more wins against the top player in the ATP Rankings than anyone else who has not held the spot with 10. He has three more than Michael Chang and Richard Krajicek, who are second on the list with seven victories against a World No. 1 apiece. 

While leading 4-3, Nadal got his right knee taped, before later ripping it off and getting it taped again early in the second set. But after the Argentine blasted a forehand winner to close out the second set — his 29th winner of the match — Nadal could not continue. 

It was tough to expect back-to-back breaks right out of the gate, but that’s exactly what happened, as both players made a series of uncharacteristic errors to lose their service games.

But then the competitors raised their levels, with both men going after their forehands more. Del Potro broke and held two set points at 5-4, but could not convert. Yet with the momentum seemingly on the top seed’s side, Del Potro was too strong from the baseline in the tie-break.

Del Potro is known to have one of if not the most dangerous forehand in tennis, but he was also plenty aggressive off his backhand wing. The Argentine developed a knifing slice after his wrist injury, but he hit through the ball quite a bit off that wing on Friday, striking a couple of massive passing shots for winners. He also did a good job using the wide serve in an attempt to open the court for an aggressive second shot in front of a crowd that included Alec Baldwin and Chevy Chase. 

Mike Bryan and Jack Sock clinched their second major championship in a row on Friday afternoon, defeating No. 7 seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-3, 6-1 in just 74 minutes to win the US Open, giving Bryan his all-time men’s doubles record 18th Grand Slam crown.

Bryan breaks a tie with John Newcombe for first all-time by triumphing at this level for the 18th time, also breaking a tie with his brother Bob Bryan by earning a record sixth victory in Flushing Meadows. At 40 years, 4 months, he also passed Indian Leander Paes as the oldest Grand Slam champion in men’s doubles during the Open Era. Paes was two months younger when he won here five years ago.

All-Time Grand Slam Men’s Doubles Title Leaders

Bryan and Sock are the first team to win Wimbledon and the US Open in the same year since Jonas Bjorkman and Todd Woodbridge did it in 2003. The last time a doubles team won consecutive major championships was when the Bryan brothers triumphed at four Slams in a row from the 2012 US Open through 2013 Wimbledon.

They will share $700,000 for their efforts during the fortnight, and will add 2,000 ATP Doubles Rankings points to their total. That will propel them to the fourth spot in the ATP Doubles Race To London. Bryan/Bryan occupy the third spot due to their efforts before Bob Bryan got injured in the Mutua Madrid Open final in May. Until this US Open, the brothers competed together here every year since 1995. 

Bryan/Sock dominated on return in the match, consistently forcing the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals runners-up to volley up during their service games as they approached the net with hard, low-flying returns. Sock was especially effective from the baseline with his electric forehand, which he lasered through the middle of the court time after time.

That kept Kubot and Melo from truly establishing themselves at the net and putting their opponents on the back foot. Bryan and Sock broke four times, while they were not broken. The Americans dropped just three first-serve points and played clean tennis, making only eight unforced errors, four of which were double faults. It was the completion of a dominant performance at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, as Bryan/Sock lost just one set in the tournament.

Kubot and Melo arrived in New York having lost five of their past six matches. But the Polish-Brazilian duo put forth a strong effort by reaching their second Slam final as a team. Kubot was trying to become the first Polish man to triumph in doubles here, while Melo was attempting to capture his second major crown. They will split $350,000 in prize money and add 1,200 points.