The eight-man field at the ATP Finals 2023 in Turin is complete after Andrey Rublev beat Alex de Minaur in the Paris Masters quarterfinal. That confirmed Holger Rune and Alexander Zverev's places at the year-end event.
While Rune lost to Novak Djokovic in the last eight on Friday, the deposed Paris champion could only have been usurped from eighth place had De Minaur gone on to win the title. Meanwhile, Zverev also qualified despite losing to Stefanos Tsitsipas in the third round in Paris.
Rune and Zverev join the sextet of Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Rublev and Tsitsipas in a stellar field in Turin. Four of them - including Djokovic - are former winners of the event.
Novak Djokovic to resume race for year-end World No. 1 with Carlos Alcaraz in ATP Finals 2023
Novak Djokovic has a comfortable 850-point lead over World No. 2 Carlos Alcaraz after reaching the Paris semifinals.
If the 36-year-old goes all the way, he will add another 640 points to his lead, meaning he will lead by a near-unassailable 1,490 points. That's because Alcaraz lost to Roman Saifullin in his Paris opener and could not close the gap on Djokovic this week.
If the Serb indeed enters the ATP Finals 2023 as a Paris champion, he will only need to win one of his three group games to finish as the year-end No. 1 for a record-extending eighth time.
Meanwhile, Alcaraz will need to go unbeaten in Turin and hope that Djokovic loses all three matches - something that hasn't happened at the ATP Finals for the Serb since his competition debut in 2007.
Djokovic went 0-3 in Shanghai that year, losing in straight sets to David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet and Rafael Nadal. Never again has that fate befell the Serb at the year-end event in 14 subsequent visits.
Who are the ATP Finals winners in the 2023 field?
Six-time winner Novak Djokovic, 2019 winner Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev (2018, 2021) and 2020 champion Daniil Medvedev are the four ATP Finals winners in the 2023 field.
Djokovic is tied with Roger Federer for the joint-most ATP Finals titles, while Tsitsipas and Medvedev will look to become the 11th player to win multiple titles at the event.
Among the four remaining players, Alcaraz will make his debut at the ATP Finals 2023 after pulling out of the 2022 edition due to injury. Depending on how Djokovic fares this week in Paris and at the ATP Finals 2023 in Turin, even a title run may not be enough for the Spaniard to end the year as the World No. 1.
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