Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka and France’s Richard Gasquetsnatched the last two places for next week’s ATP World Tour finals after CanadianMilos Raonic was knocked out of the Paris Masters in the third round on Thursday.
Wawrinka and Gasquet will be at the London event along with Spain’s Rafa Nadaland David Ferrer, Serb Novak Djokovic, Swiss Roger Federer, Czech Tomas Berdych and Argentine Juan Martin del Potro.
Wawrinka and Gasquet, who started the week in Paris in eighth and ninth spot respectively in the ATP Race to London, cannot now be caught by Raonic, who lost 7-6 (13) 6-4 to Berdych.
The cut off point for qualification was lowered to ninth place after British world number four Andy Murray pulled out of the season finale because of lower back surgery.
Raonic, who was 11th, had to at least reach the final in Paris to qualify for theLondon event.
Wawrinka, who will take part in the season-ender for the first time, and Gasquet are enjoying a fine run in Paris.
The Swiss easily beat Nicolas Almagro 6-3 6-2 to set up a quarter-final with world number two Djokovic.
Gasquet, enjoying his best season since 2007 when he also took part in the season-ending showcase event in Shanghai, grabbed his 50th win of the season for the first time when he beat Japan’s Kei Nishikori 6-3 6-2.
The Frenchman started the match knowing he would play in London next week, which obviously helped him relax.
“You can try to say you’re not looking, that you will be concentrating on your own match, but I wanted to know because I was relieved when I knew I had qualified so I was not so tense for my match,” Gasquet told a news conference.
“I mean, it’s sports. It’s normal I was relieved that he (Raonic) lost.”
Gasquet will next play either world number one Rafa Nadal or last year’s Paris Masters runner-up Jerzy Janowicz of Poland. (Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Ken Ferris)