Matteo Berrettini became the eighth and final man to book his spot at the season-ending ATP Finals after Denis Shapovalov overpowered Gael Monfils at the Paris Masters.
Monfils needed to beat Shapovalov to leapfrog the Italian and claim the final position at the O2 in London but will have to settle for a spot as an alternate after an in-form Shapovalov blew him away.
Shapovalov’s resounding 6-2 6-2 win in just 59 minutes saw him move into the semi-finals of a Masters 1000 event for the fourth time in his career and he will finish the year as Canada’s No. 1, peaking at a career-high world No. 17.
US Open semi-finalist Berrettini, 23, will also end his season at a career-high ranking, and will rise to No. 8 in the ATP leaderboard when the latest rankings are released on Monday.
He will make his debut alongside Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Daniil Medvedev, Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev in what is a strong field at the O2. The world No. 1 ranking will likely be on the line in London, with Nadal and Djokovic battling it out.
Elsewhere, Djokovic thumped Tsitsipas 6-1 6-2 to set up a semi-final meeting with Grigor Dimitrov, who earlier beat Chile’s Cristian Garin.
Nadal or Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will take on Shapovalov in the other semi-final on Saturday.
It was an eventful day at the WTA Finals in Shenzhen, meanwhile, with Simona Halep’s coach Darren Cahill labelling her a ‘disgrace’ during an on-court coaching chat.
Cahill stunned onlookers as he dug out his player during her 6-0 2-6 6-4 defeat to Karolina Pliskova, saying: ‘The last three games you’ve been a disgrace on the court.
‘Come on, you can’t win the match doing what you’ve been doing the last three games. You’ve got to reel it in.
‘Get your focus back between the lines. For no reason, you’ve lost it here … So you have a chance to define yourself now in this set. Forget the result, how are you going to finish this match? It’s up to you.
‘You can finish with full energy and full focus or you can continue doing what you’ve been doing the last three games and you have no chance to win.
‘So at least give yourself a chance by pulling it back in. This is on you. Get your attitude back on track and you will win this match. I have full belief. You have a choice here how to define yourself as an athlete and a competitor.’
The tough love didn’t help Halep book a semi-final spot in Shenzhen, but she understood why Cahill was ‘pissed’ with her.
‘Yeah, it was a little bit of the impact for me but I’m pretty sure that I deserve (it) because I was not calm. I changed something in my attitude,’ she said.
‘Everyone knows that I’m working on that. I was a little bit pissed on myself that I did that. I’m sure that I made him pissed also.’
Pliskova will go on to face world No. 1 Ash Barty in the semi-finals, while defending champion Elina Svitolina takes on Belinda Bencic.
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