Holger Rune withdraws from Moselle Open Metz after securing 2023 ATP Finals qualification

Holger Rune has withdrawn from the 2023 Moselle Open Metz after qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

The World No. 7's spot at the 2023 ATP Finals looked to be in danger after a difficult few months on the Tour. After Wimbledon, Rune did not put together back-to-back wins at a tournament until the Swiss Indoors Basel last week.

However, a run to the semi-finals there and a progression to the quarter-finals at the Paris Masters this week meant that he was able to seal his spot in the prestigious season-ending championships. This seems to have been largely helped by his new coach Boris Becker, who began working with the 20-year-old last month.

This development led Rune to withdraw from the Moselle Open in Metz, France. The ATP 250 tournament is scheduled to take place from Monday, November 6 to Saturday, November 11 and will feature the likes of Stan Wawrinka and Alex de Minaur.

If Rune were to reach the final in Metz, he would have only two days to recover and prepare for the ATP Finals which begin on November 13 and run until November 20. Given that the latter tournament features the Top 8 players of the season, it is little surprise that the Dane wants to prioritize this competition.

The seven other qualifiers for the Finals are Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner, Andrey Rublev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, and Alexander Zverev.

This means that de Minaur, who up until recently still had an outside chance of qualifying for Turin himself, will be the highest-ranked seed playing in Metz.