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Race to the World Tour Finals
Post-USO Edition
In
Leon Polychroniadis - 11,545
Renke Cananis - 11,340
Themis Xanthos - 6,620
Alexander Reimann - 6,080
Ben Faille - 5,660
Probable
Toni Bardales - 4,640
Jochen Weigle - 4,370
Solitris Papadias - 4,100
Challengers
None close enough
Long Shots
Ale Ballok - 3,470
Outlook
There's a couple of compelling stories here, but neither has anything to do with who makes the field. Usually there's at least some question, players moving up and down; the top eight are the top eight, and they're set in stone.
At the top, it looks likely that Renke Cananis will take back the #1 spot after Paris - and lose it again if he can't repeat his perfect run at last year's Tour Finals. You can really see the huge gulf that's opened up between the top two and everyone else.
Meanwhile Ben Faille continues to be just off the pace of breaking into the Top 4. He has a couple of good 500 results to replace coming up ... but also had early losses in the last two Masters and wasn't part of the Tour Finals field last year as Schwarzkopf was still around holding that spot, the only change in the particpants. I think he should be favored to win Paris, and if that happens he could well end the year at #3, primed to ramp up his assault on the power couple.
Technically Ale Ballok still is in the conversation, but really we're just waiting for him to be officially eliminated. He's just the guy who has most consistently advanced far enough to lose to the better plays ahead of him.
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