Arthur Fils secured a spot in the ATP Finals without even playing his opening match at the Paris Masters. Turns out that Frances Tiafoe‘s shock 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 defeat to Quentin Halys favored Fils and ensured that he booked his place in the year-end tournament. With this, the 22-year-old has broken France’s decade-long drought of having a player in the ATP Finals.

Fils has become the first Frenchman since 2016 to qualify for the tournament. The last player from the country to qualify was Gael Monfils. Fils is also just the tenth French player to ever make it to the ATP Finals. The achievement is all the more remarkable considering that he missed both the Australian Open and French Open due to injury.

The World No. 7 has still had a strong season overall. He lifted prestigious titles in Barcelona and Cincinnati. Moreover, he also reached the semifinals in both Miami and Madrid. These results have helped Fils end up at the No. 7 spot in the race to the ATP Finals with 3,535 points. He will begin his Paris Masters campaign with the clash against Tomas Machac.

Fils has become the sixth player to qualify for the year-end tournament, joining the likes of Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Flavio Cobolli. While he may have benefitted from Tiafoe’s defeat, the American is still very well in the race to qualify for the ATP Finals. He currently stands eighth in the race with 3,390 points. He could have secured his place in the tournament long ago if his form hadn’t dipped after the US Open.

Notably, Tiafoe has won just two matches in four tournaments since his loss to Shelton in the semifinals at Flushing Meadows. He was knocked out by Fils in the Round of 16 at the Japan Open, and this was followed by a 7-6, 4-6, 7-6 defeat to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in the Round of 32 at the Shanghai Masters. Tiafoe then lost his opening match at the Vienna Open against Lorenzo Musetti and suffered the same fate in Paris.

This poor run of form has raised doubts over his qualification to the ATP Finals. There are four other players who are in contention to reach the tournament and can knock Tiafoe out of the race. However, all four of them will have to deliver strong performances at the Paris Masters in order to qualify.

Frances Tiafoe is still in a good position to qualify for the ATP Finals

The likes of Alex de Minaur, Novak Djokovic, Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul are the players who can still qualify for the ATP Finals. Tiafoe will miss the tournament if he gets overtaken by two of these players at the Paris Masters.

While de Minaur needs to reach the semifinals, Djokovic has to make it to the final in order to have any chance of qualification. With both of them being in the same bracket of the draw, only one can reach the final. On the other hand, Fritz would also need to reach the final to have a shot at qualifying for the year-end tournament.

Paul has the toughest task out of all of them. He needs to win the Paris Masters title to have a chance of reaching the ATP Finals. The American is currently 13th in the race with 2,825 points and has an uphill task ahead of him. He has made a strong start to the tournament, defeating Holger Rune 7-5, 6-4 before crushing Daniel Merida Aguilar 6-1, 6-1. He will be up against Halys in the Round of 16.

Djokovic is still in contention, as he defeated Valentin Vacherot 6-7, 7-5, 6-1, and Fritz also made it to the Round of 32 by racking up a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 victory over Benjamin Bonzi. While Djokovic will be playing Rinky Hijikata next, Fritz will lock horns against Alex Molcan. Finally, de Minaur is yet to begin his campaign in the French capital and will be playing Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the opening round.