Week in Preview: The 2019 season comes down the homestretch in Europe

With the Asian swing complete, and just one more trip back to Europe on most players’ calendars, the 2019 season is making its final turn and heading for home. Tournament-wise, this is a modest week; there are five events across both tours, but there are no Masters 1000s on the men’s side or Premier Mandatories on the women’s. For the players who remain on the year-end championship bubble, though, there’s a lot on the line.

Moscow*, Russia

$1,032,000; Premier*
Indoor hard court

Things are getting complicated, as they often do, when it comes to qualifying scenarios for the WTA Finals. There’s one spot up for grabs in Shenzhen, and one tournament left to play, in Moscow.

The top three seeds at the Kremlin Cup are Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Belinda Bencic. Svitolina has qualified for Shenzhen. Currently, Serena Williams, who hasn’t played since the US Open, occupies the eighth and final spot, with Bertens and Bencic just behind her. Bertens is 160 points ahead of Bencic, and they’ve been placed in the same half in Moscow. So, essentially, the race is on between the two of them, and an absent Serena, for the last slot in Shenzhen. Would Serena play if she qualified? She hasn’t made the trip to the tour finals since 2014.

As far as who has the easier draw, Bencic’s prospective third-round opponent, Dayana Yastremska, seems like a tougher out than Bertens’ prospective third-round opponent, Anastasija Sevastova.

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*Antwerp, Belgium

$950,000; 250 ranking points*
Indoor hard court

Gael Monfils, the top seed in Antwerp, has qualified for the ATP’s season-ending championships just once over the course of his 14-year career. But he has a chance to do it again in 2019. It’s a long shot; he’s 13th in the race, and hasn’t done much since the US Open. But he’s still less than 400 points behind Matteo Berrettini at No. 8. Monfils may have to clear some high hurdles in his half in Antwerp, including Jan-Lennard Struff, Stan Wawrinka and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

One of the players Monfils would need to leapfrog into London is David Goffin, who will be playing at home in Belgium this week. Goffin is currently No. 10 in the race, 200 points behind Berrettini. The first seed Goffin could play in Antwerp is No. 5 Guido Pella.

Also here: Andy Murray, who will open against another Belgian, Kimmer Coppejeans.

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*Stockholm, Sweden

$950,000; 250 ranking points*
Indoor hard court

Fabio Fognini, 32, has never qualified for the ATP Finals, but he’s in the running after having his most productive season. He’s currently 11th, 290 points behind Berrettini.

Can Fognini make any progress in Stockholm? He’s never loved the indoor season, but this would seem to be his tournament to lose. Grigor Dimitrov is the second seed, and Taylor Fritz is third. One potential obstacle could be the towering serve machine known as Reilly Opelka, who does like indoor tennis, in the third round.

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Moscow, Russia
$922,520; 250 ranking points
Indoor hard court

The men’s edition of the Kremlin Cup doesn’t come with much year-end drama, the way the women’s does; Karen Khachanov, the No. 2 seed, is 16th in the race to London. But the tournament does have the biggest star who will be in action this week, Daniil Medvedev.

The Russian native has been playing as well as anyone on tour since July, and is coming off his second straight Masters 1000 title, in Shanghai. The next question for Medvedev may have to do with his schedule: Now that he’s going deep every week, will he take a page from the Big 3’s book and reduce his workload? We’ll see. Kremlin Cup offers just 250 ranking points, but it’s a chance for him to return home as a conquering hero. Who would pass that up?

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Luxembourg*, Luxembourg

$250,000; International*
Indoor hard court

Elise Mertens and Julia Georges are the top two seeds in Luxembourg, but the headliner, as far as fans in the U.S. are concerned, is Coco Gauff. The 15-year-old Floridian became the youngest WTA tournament winner in a decade and a half on Sunday in Linz. Now she’s scheduled to face No. 8 seed Anna Blinkova in the first round here. For someone with a limited schedule, Coco is certainly making the most of her 2019.

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