Race Rivals Set To Square Off In Antwerp, Moscow and Stockholm

The season-ending European indoor swing is here and the Emirates ATP Race To London has entered the home stretch.

The final ATP World Tour 250 events of the year will be held next week at the VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow, inaugural European Open in Antwerp and If Stockholm Open. Contenders are jockeying for positions to secure the three remaining berths at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, with four players sitting within 1,000 points of Dominic Thiem and the coveted eighth spot.

In position to make his debut at The O2 from 13-20 November, Gael Monfils currently occupies the sixth spot with 3,625 points. The Frenchman will be looking to separate himself from the pack as the top seed in Stockholm. After receiving a first-round bye, he will open against either Gastao Elias or Ivan Dodig, with a potential blockbuster semi-final clash against surging #NextGen star Alexander Zverev in the cards. Former champion Grigor Dimitrov (2013) is seeded second.

In Antwerp, David Goffin leads the field and will be looking to chase down Tomas Berdych for the ninth position. The Belgian, who is 235 points behind the Czech and 560 behind Thiem for No. 8, hopes the home crowd will launch him to London. He opens against either Tommy Robredo or Florian Mayer, with Pablo Cuevas in his half of the draw and fellow seeds David Ferrer, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon looming as potential final opponents.

In Moscow, Roberto Bautista Agut is the top seed and will be in striking distance of the elite eight should he capture the Shanghai Rolex Masters title on Sunday. A maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown would vault the Spaniard to No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Race To London. He opens against Konstantin Kravchuk or a qualifier, with countrymen Pablo Carreno Busta and Albert Ramos-Vinolas and home hope Karen Khachanov standing in his path.