–

Somewhat quiet on the ATP front after the average attendance at the Masters 1000 in Miami, and Monte Carlo coming up this week.

Still, new events in Marbella, Spain and Cagliari, Italy produced some good efforts – many from the natives in both countries.

On some level, it almost felt like it was “regional competition week” on the ATP Tour.

WTA Rankings Report – April 12, 2021

ON THE UPSWING

Pablo Carreño Busta (ESP): No. 15 =========> No. 12 (The No. 1 seed in Marbella won the tournament).

Jannik Sinner (ITA): No. 23 =========> No. 22 (Another career high for the young Italian, without even having to hit a ball).

Lorenzo Sonego (ITA): No. 34 =========> No. 28 (A career high for yet another up-and-coming Italian, this one 25 years old, as he wins the Cagliari tournament. It’s his first career ATP Tour title on clay, after winning the grass-court tournament in Antalya in 2019. He won the doubles in Cagliari too, with Andrea Vavassori. That moved him up 43 spots in doubles, to a career high of No. 132).

Laslo Djere (SRB): No. 57 =========> No. 49 (Back into the top 50 after reaching the Cagliari final).

Sebastian Korda (USA): No. 65 =========> No. 62 (Another career best for Korda – again, without lifting a finger).

Jaume Munar (ESP): No. 95 =========> No. 81 (After hitting a bit of a lull at age 23, Munar made the final in Marbella this week. And it might give him some momentum).

Lorenzo Musetti (ITA): No. 90 =========> No. 84 (The young Italian continues to impress, reaching a new career high after making the Cagliari quarterfinals – and beating Dan Evans along the way. The Monte Carlo resident has a wild card into the local tourney this week. He’ll face Aslan Karatsev, a fascinating matchup).

Yannick Hanfmann (GER): No. 105 =========> No. 99 (The 29-year-old German looks to have sealed himself a spot in the Roland Garros main draw with his quarterfinal effort in Sardegna. It would be only his third trip to a Grand Slam main draw after turning pro only in 2015, after four years at USC. Notably, he has never made it through a qualifying event; his other two appearances, he was straight in).

Carlos Alcaraz (ESP): No. 133 =========> No. 118 (The 17-year-old inches closer to the top 100 – and hits another career mark – after making the Marbella semifinals).

Blaz Rola (SLO): No. 165 =========> No. 147 (The 30-year-old Slovene wins the Split Challenger).

Nicolas Kicker (ARG): No. 701 =========> No. 640 (It’s a long road back from a match-fixing suspension, but the 28-year-old Argentine is grinding it out as he qualifies and wins a low-level ITF in Argentina).

Mattia Bellucci (ITA): No. 992 =========> No. 868 (What? Another Italian youngster on the rise? This 19-year-old is a little behind the ambitious schedule set by Sinner and Musetti. But he qualified and made the final of a $15K ITF in Sharm El Sheikh two weeks ago, to make the big jump).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Cristian Garin (CHI): No. 20 =========> No. 24 (Garin drops 125 points, half his total from winning the Houston clay-court 250 back in 2019. He faces Félix Auger-Aliassime in the first round of Monte Carlo Monday).

Sam Querrey (USA): No. 60 =========> No. 66 (Querrey loses half his points from the Houston clay-court tournament, which wasn’t held this year).

Gilles Simon (FRA): No. 63 =========> No. 68

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA): No. 68 =========> No. 72 (Another drop in the rankings – and Tsonga was a late scratch for Monte Carlo as well. He has played just three tournaments this year – two of them in France. And he retired after six games in the first round of Dubai last month).

Pablo Andujar (ESP): No. 70 =========> No. 80 (75 points gone from making the final in Marrakech back in 2019.

Dennis Novak (AUT): No. 101 =========> No. 110 (His first-round defeat at in Cagliari, combined with with the loss of half the points he earned winning a Challenger in Taipei this same week two years ago … might mean the Austrian has to play the qualifying in Paris).

Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR): No. 190 =========> No. 208

Janko Tipsarevic (SRB): No. 288 =========> No. 307 (He’s retired, but Tipsarevic is still on the rankings list, dropping down bit by bit).

Ryan Harrison (USA): No. 531 =========> No. 575 (The former world No. 40 continues to slip down the rankings, as he has played just one match since the restart – a first-round loss at Delray Beach in January).