BRUSSELS — Novak Djokovic's hopes of qualifying for the ATP Finals in Turin received a boost without hitting a ball after rivals Arthur Fils and Flavio Cobolli suffered shock defeats in Brussels and Lyon. Fils, the top seed at the European Open, fell 6-4, 6-7 (9), 7-6 (5) to 36-year-old Jan-Lennard Struff in the semi-finals in Brussels in just under two hours and 20 minutes, while Cobolli lost in three sets to fellow Italian Lorenzo Musetti in Lyon.
Struff, the world No 47 who was seeking the fifth ATP Tour final of his long career, took the opening set 6-4 before Fils, the Cincinnati Masters winner and favourite to reach the final where Tallon Griekspoor was waiting, battled back to claim the second on a tie-break on Saturday evening. The German held his nerve in the decider after Fils was broken when serving for the match at 5-4. Following his win, Struff said: "I want to thank the crowd for the support. It was an unreal match. I felt I played a very, very good first set, he won the second set which was very close. I managed to come back from a break down twice in the third set. I am just very happy to get the win."
Despite the setback, the 22-year-old Fils is up to a career high of eight and remains seventh in the Race to Turin with 3,575 points, well placed to qualify for the season-ending event for the first time. Frances Tiafoe and Rafael Jodar occupy the last two qualification spots on 3,380 and 3,159 points respectively, while 24-time major winner Djokovic is currently 11th on 2,840 points — exactly 319 points behind Jodar. In Lyon, world No 26 Musetti saved four match points to claim a battling 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Cobolli, despite having won his quarter-final after 1am and having just over 12 hours to recover before facing the French Open champion. The 24-year-old has fallen from world No 5 to outside the top 20 in an injury-hit season.
Realistically Djokovic is more likely to haul in Tiafoe or Jodar, but the defeats for Fils and Cobolli mean they will be looking over their shoulders heading into Basel and Vienna. Djokovic may need to win either Basel or the Paris Masters, or at least have deep runs at both tournaments, to qualify. Alex De Minaur and Lyon finalist Taylor Fritz will also hope to crash the party in Turin, while Daniil Medvedev sits sixth but will jump to fifth if he wins the title in Almaty on Sunday. Alexander Zverev has already been confirmed as the year-end No 1 due to Jannik Sinner's season-ending knee injury, while Carlos Alcaraz and Ben Shelton have already qualified, with the qualification cut currently standing at 4,145.