Advertisement

Gasquet moves into final spot for Tour Finals invite

Richard Gasquet, shown at the 2011 French Open, has put himself in a good position to win an invitation to the ATP World Tour Finals. UPI/David Silpa
Richard Gasquet, shown at the 2011 French Open, has put himself in a good position to win an invitation to the ATP World Tour Finals. UPI/David Silpa | License Photo

LONDON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- Richard Gasquet moved into the final qualifying position for the ATP World Tour Finals with two weeks to go on the ATP 2013 schedule.

Gasquet won the Kremlin Cup with a three-set victory Sunday over Mikhail Kukushkin and that moved him past French countryman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the eighth invitation to the elite year-end event in London..

Advertisement

Tsonga's chances dimmed when he dropped a semifinal match Saturday to Robin Haase in the Erste Bank Open in Austria. Tommy Haas went on to win in Vienna and is a long shot to qualify for London. The third tournament last week went to Grigor Dimitrov, who beat David Ferrer in the final.

The world rankings differ from the standings for the World Tour Finals in that the rankings are a 52-week rolling account while the London tournament invitations are determined by points earned in a calendar year.

The first five players in the world rankings all qualified for London. Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Ferrer and Juan Martin del Potro are expected to play. No. 4-ranked Andy Murray has withdrawn with a back injury, leaving four spots to be filled with three tournaments in two weeks.

Advertisement

Tomas Berdych is sixth and appears to be a good bet to earn an invitation. The next four players -- vying for three spots -- are within 95 points of each other. Stanislas Wawrinka is seventh, five points ahead of Roger Federer. Gasquet is another 25 points back and Tsonga lurks 65 points behind Gasquet.

Del Potro is the No. 1 seed for the Swiss indoors but Berdych, Federer, Wawrinka and Gasquet are all also entered. Ferrer tops the field in the Valencia Open in Spain. No other Tour Finals contenders are in that draw.

There were minor changes in the Top 10 this week, with Federer moving to No. 6, pushing Berdych to seventh. And Wawrinka edges ahead of Tsonga for the No. 8 spot. Tsonga is ninth.

Among last week's tournament winners, Gasquet, 10th, and Haas, who is 12th, didn't move in the rankings. Dimitrov improved from 28th to No. 22, a career high.

The ATP Top 10 listing player's name, home country and ranking points:

1. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 11,520

2. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 11,120

3. David Ferrer, Spain, 6,800

4. Andy Murray, Great Britain, 6,295

Advertisement

5. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 5,365

6. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 4,245

7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,180

8. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, 3,240

9. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 3,235

10. Richard Gasquet, France, 3,220

Latest Headlines