Mr. Consistent: Andrey Rublev clinches ATP Finals berth for fourth successive year

On Thursday, Andrey Rublev clinched his place at the Nitto ATP Finals for a fourth successive year after advancing in Vienna.

The No. 3 seed defeated Matteo Arnaldi, 7-5, 6-3, to reach the Erste Bank Open quarterfinals. After converting the first break of the encounter to end the opening set, the 2020 champion won his opening return game of the second set and rode that advantage out to an 87-minute victory.

Rublev improved to 52-21 on the year, as he bids to collect his third title of the season and first on hard courts. He previously captured his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Monte Carlo and later won the 250 clay-court tournament in Bastad.

When the 26-year-old competes in Turin, he’ll be looking to build off of his 2022 showing when he progressed out of the ATP Finals group stage for the first time. Last year, his bid was ended by Casper Ruud in the semifinals.

Three spots remain up for grabs to this year’s edition, with Stefanos Tsitsipas next in line to qualify. The competitor behind the Greek in the seventh position, Alexander Zverev, will meet Rublev on Friday.

Tommy Paul, who stood at No. 12 in the race, will have to rely on a deep run at next week’s Paris Masters to give himself a shot at earning a trip to the eight-man event. The sixth seed was ousted by wild card Borna Gojo, 6-3, 6-4. The Croatian is through to his first tour-level quarterfinal of 2023.

World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev overcame Grigor Dimitrov, 3-6, 6-2, 6-4, to continue his title defense. Medvedev fired 14 aces past the Bulgarian.

In Basel, Alex de Minaur—No. 13 on the Turin leaderboard—suffered a similar fate as Paul when he lost his second-rounder, 6-4, 6-3, to Tallon Griekspoor. Taylor Fritz, No. 9, was up a set on Alexander Shevchenko.