Stanislas Wawrinka has officially qualified for the ATP World Tour Finals, leaving a tight contest for the other four spots in the eight-player event.
Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are the other three players who have also qualified for the season finale in London. Marin Cilic is likely to get in either by staying in the top eight or gaining entry as a Grand Slam champion following his victory as the U.S. Open.
That leaves three spots open, with six players—Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Grigor Dimitrov — all within touching distance of each other. Nishikori has a 275-point lead on the others following his fourth title of the year in Tokyo, while Dimitrov's deficit is also about 200 points as the 23-year-old Bulgarian has lagged at the Asian events. But those at No. 6-10, including Cilic, are within 345 points of each other — less than a semifinal at a Masters event.
Ferrer and Murray have taken wild cards into this week's event in Vienna, a 250-level tournament, with Murray also entering the 500 event at Valencia. Raonic and Cilic are playing Moscow this week, while Berdych and Dimitrov are in Stockholm. Dimitrov is defending Stockholm champion.
The points standings are as follows, with a trio of 250 events this week, two 500 events next week, followed by the Paris 1000 Masters.
1. Novak Djokovic 9,010 points
2. Roger Federer 8,020 points
3. Rafael Nadal 6,745 points
4. Stan Wawrinka 4,805 points
5. Kei Nishikori 4,265 points
6. Marin Cilic 3,990 points
7. Tomas Berdych 3,945 points
8. Milos Raonic 3,750 points
9. David Ferrer 3,715 points
10. Andy Murray 3,655 points
11. Grigor Dimitrov 3,450 points