ATP World Tour Finals Road to London: Top 5 players who can qualify
The 2016 ATP World Tour is at its twilight as the China Open and Japan Open going on which will be followed by a couple more tournaments before the ATP World Tour Finals at London. Only the top eight-ranked players based on this year’s performances will be participating in the tournament.
So far, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have all booked their place at the Finals in London. Another five spots are left and there are quite a number of players who are still in contention for a place in the year-ending tournament.
Let’s take a look at five players who can qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals in London.
#5 Dominic Thiem
The young Austrian has been one of the most promising players on tour this year and has had quite a number of notable performances so far. Thiem began his year with a semi-final outing at the Brisbane International which was followed by a personal best Australian Open performance where he reaches the third round.
After the Australian Open, Thiem won his fourth ATP title and his first of the year by winning the Argentina Open where he beat reigning champion Rafael Nadal before defeating Nicolas Almagro in the final. Thiem won his second ATP title of the year by winning the Mexican Open which was also his maiden ATP 500 title.
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After a couple of mixed performances that followed the Mexican Open, Thiem achieved one of the biggest wins of his career by defeating Roger Federer at the Italian Open before losing to Kei Nishikori in the quarter-finals. This was followed by his third title of the year at the Nice Open where he successfully defended his title.
Thiem then produced his best ever Grand Slam performance till date by reaching the semi-finals of the French Open where he was beaten by eventual winner Novak Djokovic in straight sets. This performance helped him enter the Top 10 of the ATP rankings for the first time in his career.
The Austrian then won his first grass-court title at the Mercedes Open, making him only the ninth active player to win three titles on as many surfaces in the same year. After a disappointing run of performances at the Wimbledon, Austrian Open and the Rogers Cup, Thiem reached the fourth round of the US Open but was forced to retire against Juan Martin Del Potro because of a knee injury.
Following the US Open, Thiem was beaten by Alexander Zverev in the opening round of the China Open. Based on his performances this year, the aggressive baseliner is ranked eighth and has a very positive chance of making his maiden ATP World Tour Finals.