Felix Auger-Aliassime has confirmed he is doing everything in his power to qualify for the ATP Finals in Turin.
And as the Canadian claimed his second title of the season at the UniCredit Firenze Open last week he strengthened those chances. The 22-year-old defeated JJ Wolf 6-4 6-4 in the final of the ATP 250 event. In doing so he moved ahead of Taylor Fritz to seventh in the points race to qualify for the Finals.
“The plan right now is to play every week,” he revealed according to ATPTour.com. “To play in Antwerp, Basel and Paris because there are still tournaments to play and the race is very close.
“There [are] players like Taylor [Fritz] and Andrey [Rublev], and many others are competing hard right now to try and qualify, so I’m going to try to put myself in the best position possible to try and make it to Turin.”
Both Fritz and Rublev have claimed title success recently. Rublev won the Gijon Open for his 12th ATP title on the same day as the Canadian, while Fritz claimed his third title of the season in Tokyo just the week before Auger-Aliassime’s trophy.
Carlos Alcaraz, Rafael Nadal, Casper Ruud and Stefanos Tsitsipas have qualified already based on their points tallies. Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic became the fifth player confirmed under the Slam provision, as he ensured he will finish the points race inside the top 20 with a title in Astana.
Felix Auger-Aliassime narrowly missed out on qualification as he finished 12th in the race. Had it not been for injury, the Canadian would have lined up as the third alternate for the event behind Jannik Sinner and Cameron Norrie.