Fils, 22, was confirmed as a Turin qualifier after fellow Frenchman Quentin Halys beat Frances Tiafoe at the Rolex Paris Masters, pushing Tiafoe out of mathematical contention and locking the French player into the eight-man field.
The last time a French player walked out at the ATP Tour’s season finale was November 2016, when Monfils played the round-robin stage in London.
Fils was ranked No. 42 as recently as February. He climbed to a career-high No. 7 on Monday, having made his top-10 debut on 28 September. He is only the second Frenchman to reach three Masters 1000 semi-finals in a season since Guy Forget in 1991.
Cincinnati ended a 12-year French drought
The breakthrough came at the Cincinnati Open in August, where Fils beat Tiafoe 6-3, 1-6, 6-0 to take his maiden Masters 1000 title and end a 12-year French drought at that level. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga’s 2014 Toronto title was the previous one, and at 22 Fils became the youngest French player to win a Masters 1000.
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Earlier in the season he had also won the Barcelona Open and reached the Doha final.
Fils had been chasing Turin all season
In a feature published hours before his qualification was confirmed, Fils told the ATP Tour what the chance to play at the season finale would mean to him.
“It would be insane to play in Turin. I like to play on the big stage,” Fils said.
“The Italian crowds are always very intense and you know it is pretty cool to play in Italy.”
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Two singles places still open
Fils joins Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz, Ben Shelton, Daniil Medvedev and Flavio Cobolli in the field. Cobolli, 24, had confirmed his own debut a day earlier when Casper Ruud beat Rafael Jodar in Paris.
Two singles places remain, with the Rolex Paris Masters running until Sunday.
The Nitto ATP Finals are played at the Inalpi Arena in Turin from 15 to 22 November, the sixth consecutive edition at the venue.
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