Denis Shapovalov continued his rise by qualifying for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals, guaranteeing his spot with a hard-fought 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) victory over Yuichi Sugita in two hours on Monday at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

“Just kept at it,” Shapovalov said. “It’s great to get a win back under my belt. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, so I’m very happy I was able to turn around the match and fight my way through it.”

The Canadian left-hander became the fourth player to qualify for the year-end event in Milan from 7-11 November, something he could not have imagined at the beginning of the year.

“I’m very excited,” Shapovalov said. “I heard about the event at the start of the year. I thought there was probably no chance that I was going to make it this year. But with a couple of good results in the summer I put myself in a good position. The last couple weeks I’ve been trying to see how I can qualify and who I need to lose so that I could qualify but I guess with my win today I did that so I’m very, very proud of myself and hopefully I can play really well there.”

Although Shapovalov let slip a 4-1 lead in the third set, the 18 year old managed to right his ship and take out his tough Japanese opponent.

And while Shapovalov qualified for Milan, another player significantly boosted his chances in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan. Hyeon Chung played a strong match to oust ATP World Tour veteran Paolo Lorenzi, 6-3, 6-1 in one hour, 36 minutes.

The South Korean moved into seventh in the Race, the final qualifying spot, with 805 points, passing Daniil Medvedev, who has 772 points.

Swiss veteran Marco Chiudinelli played the final match of his career. Robin Haase eliminated the home favourite, 6-2, 7-6(3).

Chiudinelli finishes his career with 52 tour-level wins and 185 victories on the ATP Challenger Tour, where he claimed three titles (2004 Donetsk, 2009 Tenerife, 2016 Wroclaw).

The 36-year-old’s best tour-level result came in Basel eight years ago, when he advanced to the semi-finals before falling to good friend Roger Federer, who was in the crowd on Monday to watch what became Chiudinelli’s final match.

Speaking of Federer, the top seed will begin his campaign for an eighth Basel title on Tuesday evening when he plays American Frances Tiafoe, who is battling to stay alive in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan.

Upsets Abound In Basel Doubles

There were two major doubles upsets in Switzerland Monday, with qualifiers Marcus Daniell and Dominic Inglot eliminating top seeds Henri Kontinen and John Peers, 7-6(5), 6-3. Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock ousted second seeds Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram, 3-6, 6-3, 10-7, which for the moment pushed the South African-American duo out of the cut for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Klaasen and Ram were in the eighth spot in the Emirates ATP Race To London, but their loss combined with second seeds Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers beating Ryan Harrison and Steve Johnson, 7-6(5), 6-2, sends the Croatian-Spanish pair from ninth into seventh, nudging Klaasen and Ram back a spot to ninth.

One of North America’s most promising tennis players will bring his fiery brand of tennis to the Next Gen ATP Finals next month. Canadian Denis Shapovalov on Monday became the fourth player to qualify for the inaugural event, to be held 7-11 November at the Fiera Milano (Rho), Italy.

Shapovalov joined Alexander Zverev of Germany and Russians Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov as qualifiers. The left-handed Canadian clinched his berth by beating Japan’s Yuichi Sugita 4-6, 6-2, 7-6(3) in the first round of the Swiss Indoors Basel.

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The 18-year-old Shapovalov is the youngest player so far to guarantee his spot at the 21-and-under tournament, which will also feature a number of rule changes and innovations. Shapovalov captured the tennis world’s attention in August when he sprinted through the Coupe Rogers draw in his home country.

The 6-foot left-hander started the week of 7 August at No. 143 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He received a wild card into the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, and showed exactly how to take advantage of such an opportunity.

After surviving a first-round battle against veteran Rogerio Dutra Silva of Brazil, Shapovalov knocked out Grand Slam champion Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets.

Read More: Surging Shapovalov Has Sights Set On Milan

In the Round of 16, Shapovalov delivered the performance of his career, upsetting then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal to become the youngest Masters 1000 quarter-finalist. He followed the stunning performance by beating Frenchman Adrian Mannarino to make the Montreal semi-finals. His dream run ended there with a tight two-set loss to fellow #NextGenATP Zverev.

Shapovalov proved he was no one-tournament wonder in the weeks ahead. Playing at his first US Open, he won three matches to qualify and proceeded to reach the fourth round of a Grand Slam for the first time, beating then-World No. 12 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga along the way.

Only three qualification spots remain for the eight-player Next Gen ATP Finals. The top seven in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, which ends on 30 October, will qualify. The eighth spot is reserved for the winner of an Italian 21-and-under tournament to finish on 5 November.

Alexander Zverev has come a long way since losing in the final round of qualifying in his last appearance at the Erste Bank Open 500 in 2014.

A five-time champion this season, Zverev began his pursuit of a sixth title this year in Vienna on Monday with a 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 victory against Viktor Troicki.

The German, who is No. 3 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, is attempting to find his best form to close out his season on a high note.

Zverev took one hour, 47 minutes to get by the Serbian, extending his FedEx ATP Head2Head record over the veteran to 3-1. The 6’6” right-hander will next play the tricky Frenchman Gilles Simon, who defeated Ernests Gulbis, 6-3, 6-3. The 20-year-old holds a 3-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head advantage over Simon, with two of the three meetings going to a final-set tie-break.

Philipp Kohlschreiber earned his 30th tour-level victory of the season when he defeated fifth seed John Isner, 7-6(6), 6-4. The German overcame a break deficit in both the first and second sets, saving three set points in the opening tie-break.

“I played my best tennis with my back to the wall,” Kohlschreiber said. “Though it is rare that a player like him would give a match away once he is two breaks up.”

It is the 11th straight season that the German has reached the 30-win mark. The only players who own longer streaks of 30 wins per year are Rafael Nadal (14 years), Tomas Berdych (13 years) and Novak Djokovic (12 years).

The German evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with the American at 4-4, winning for the fourth time in their past five meetings.

Kohlschreiber will next face qualifier Pierre-Hugues Herbert, who sent Bernard Tomic’s record on the season to 10-19 with a 7-6(4), 7-5 win.

The Frenchman, who earned his berth in the Nitto ATP Finals in doubles with Nicolas Mahut, snapped a six-match losing streak in tour-level main draws. And while he trails Kohlschreiber in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, 2-1, he triumphed in their last meeting at The Championships last year.

Richard Gasquet got his tournament off to a strong start with a 6-2, 6-3 win over fellow veteran Feliciano Lopez. That sets up a second-round clash against the winner of a blockbuster opener between second seed Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev, who has qualified for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals. That first-round match will begin Tuesday’s evening session.