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Ruud, 22, picked up his first tour-level title on hard courts on
Sunday when he swept past Cameron Norrie 6-0 6-2 at the San
Diego Open to reclaim eighth place from Hubert Hurkacz.
Hurkacz, who picked up his third tour-level title in 2021 in
Metz, France, slipped to ninth with Sinner 10th on the list.
"I know that now I will jump up to eighth and it's fun because
Jannik (Sinner) and Hubert are the closest guys behind me," Ruud
told the ATP Tour website.
"Within these two weeks we've all won a tournament so it's a
strong competition now. I think us three are the closest to
capturing the last two spots."
Sinner defeated Gael Monfils 6-3 6-4 to defend his ATP 250 title
in Sofia and boost his chances of making the cut for the
season-ending tournament in his home country.
The ATP Finals is played between the top eight men's singles
players and doubles teams and will be held from Nov. 14-21.
Top-ranked Novak Djokovic, U.S. Open champion Daniil Medvedev
and French Open finalist Stefanos Tsitsipas have already
qualified for the tournament.
German Alexander Zverev, Russian Andrey Rublev and Italian
Matteo Berrettini occupy the next three spots on the leaderboard.
Spaniard Rafa Nadal is placed seventh but the 20-times major
winner has already announced the end of his season due to
injury.
"Obviously, there are some big events that will be played now –
Indian Wells, there's 1,000 points on the line – also Paris and
Vienna," Ruud said.
"There is no way I can kind of relax and think that I will make
it because I have to try to think that Hubert and Jannik can
both do really well, so I have to do the same.
"That's how it should be. It should be a strong competition and
whoever gets there in the end, deserves it more."
(Reporting by Sudipto Ganguly in Berhampore, India; editing by
Ed Osmond)
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