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A Masters 1000 tournament can lead to some big changes in the rankings.

And the biggest change of all is that Denmark’s Holger Rune rockets into the top 10.

The 19-year-old defeated five top-10 players – including Novak Djokovic in the final – and former Grand Slam champion Stan Wawrinka to win the Paris Masters.

Also – last year’s ATP Tour Finals points drop on this Monday. Which means that Daniil Medvedev and Alexander Zverev both lose more than 1,500 points in one day.

As usual, it benefits some players who didn’t make the finals a year ago, and therefore have nothing to drop.

WTA Tour Rankings Report – As of Nov. 7, 2022

(Last week’s rankings at the bottom of this post).

ON THE UPSWING

Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE): No. 5 ========> No. 3 (A trip to the Paris semifinals – combined with big points undefended by Casper Ruud and Daniil Medvedev – move Tsitsipas up two spots to tie a career high first reached in Aug. 2021).

Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN): No. 8 ========> No. 6 (A career high for Auger-Aliassime, whose winning streak ended at the hands of Holger Rune in the Paris semifinals. He’s just 70 points behind Medvedev for No. 5).

Andrey Rublev (RUS): No. 9 ========> No. 7

Taylor Fritz (USA): No. 11 ========> No. 9 (Fritz is back in the top 10 and, with the withdrawal of world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz, gets right into the ATP Finals with an opoprtunity for more).

Holger Rune (DEN): No. 10 ========> No. 8 (A nutso week and a great month for the 19-year-old, who also rises to become the first alternate at the ATP Tour finals. That’s something he couldn’t have fathomed as September turned into October. And, needless to say, that means he’s taking a pass on the Next Genn Finals this week).

Frances Tiafoe (USA): No. 21 ========> No. 19 (Tiafoe moves up two and is back inside the top 20 after his quarterfinal effort in Paris).

Jack Draper (GBR): No. 45 ========> No. 41 (He was 2-13 at the ATP Tour level coming into 2022, and ranked No. 262 at the start of the season. He ends it 17-12, and ranked at a career high after making the second round in Paris).

Corentin Moutet (FRA): No. 64 ========> No. 51 (The same week the French Federation pulled their support because of his range of … dodgy behaviour, Moutet qualified in Paris, beats Borna Coric and Cameron Norrie, and ends up 25 points out of the top 50 and at a career best. He also hired his own coach – Petar Popovic – to replace the one supplied by the FFT).

Richard Gasquet (FRA): No. 76 ========> No. 60 (The week his crew members Gilles Simon finally called it a career, Gasquet is on the up).

Daniel Altmaier (GER): No. 91 ========> No. 80 (The 24-year-old German wins his second consecutive Challenger on clay in South American – first in Lima, and then last week in Guayaquil. He went down there outside the top 100. He’s back in. His only challenge is that he has a Challenger final and a title still to defend before the end of the season).

Christopher O’Connell (AUS): No. 102 ========> No. 84 (The stylish Aussie who wears the croc moves breaks into the top 100 for the first time – a career high – at age 28 with a Challenger title in Yokohama).

Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO): No. 106 ========> No. 96 (The Georgian squeezes back in to the top 100 by winning a round in Paris. He was going around Europe taking first-round losers’ money (seven of his last eight events before Paris) while his court case for domestic violence played out back in his native country. He was judged non-guilty. And this should at least get him into the AO main draw).

Marco Cecchinato (ITA): No. 109 ========> No. 101 (The 30-year-old Italian efforting hard to get straight into Melbourne by going down to Guayaquil and play the qualifying at the Challenger there. He was ranked nearly 200 spots higher than the No. 2 seed in that draw, which tells you he basically forgot to enter the main event in time. He lost just three games in two matches, and ended up losing to eventual champion Altmaier).

*Ben Shelton defeated his US Open doubles partner Chris Eubanks to win a Challenger last week and rise to another career high)*.

Ben Shelton (USA): No. 156 ========> No. 128 (Another career high for the young American lefty, who has foregone his college career at the U. of Fla to go pro. He wins the Charlottesville Challenger over his good pal and mentor Chris Eubanks in the final).

Gilles Simon (FRA): No. 188 ========> No. 147 (Simon ended his career in style in Paris, getting himself back into the top 150 (not that it matters at this point) with wins over Andy Murray and Taylor Fritz, before losing to Félix Auger-Aliassime in the third round. He’s not done yet, though – French Interclub awaits in a few weeks).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Daniil Medvedev (RUS): No. 3 ========> No. 5

Alexander Zverev (GER): No. 6 ========> No. 12 (Zverev hasn’t played since he messed up his ankle against Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros. But it’s taken some time for that to reflect in his ranking. He’s out of the top 10 for the first time since July 2017 when he first entered the top 10. The 25-year-old German drops a load of points from last year’s Tour finals, which he won and the Paris Masters, where he reached the semifinals. That’s quite a run).

Jannik Sinner (ITA): No. 12 ========> No. 15 (Sinner went out meekly to Marc-Andrea Huesler in the first round of the Paris Masters. Not the way he wanted to go out, that’s for sure. Sinner only played two matches at the ATP Finals a year ago, as a sub. And he won one of them. But those 200 points make the difference).

Adrian Mannarino (FRA): No. 43 ========> No. 48

Marcos Giron (USA): No. 52 ========> No. 63 (The American was close to his career high. But he qualified and beat Tiafoe and Schwartzman a year ago in Paris, making it to the third round. Those points are lost, and he drops out of the top 60).

Alejandro Tabilo (CHI): No. 80 ========> No. 88 (The Canadian, who represents Chile, hasn’t played much this fall. He hasn’t won back-to-back main-draw matches since Munich at the end of April. And he hasn’t played at all since losing in a third-set tiebreak in the first round of qualifying in Vienna. He drops the points from a Challenger title in Guayaquil a year ago. And he has another final to defend in a few weeks’ time).

Alexei Popyrin (AUS): No. 107 ========> No. 131 (Only 23, Popyrin’s rise seemed steady, but it’s not been a great year for him. He’s out of the top 100 and will have to look to his peeps for an AO wild card).

Hugo Gaston (FRA): No. 84 ========> No. 132 (TOUGH drop for Gaston, 22, at this stage. He lost in the first round of Paris qualifying to Huesler, in a third set tiebreak. A year ago, he had a ridiculous run there. He beat … Kevin Anderson and Lorenzo Musetti – in the qualifying. They he took care of Pablo Carreño Busta and Carlos Alcaraz (then ranked No. 35) before going down to Medvedev in the quarters).

James Duckworth (AUS): No. 110 ========> No. 171 (Duckworth has been playing Aussie-based Challengers the last few weeks. But he lost in the quarterfinals two weeks ago, then in the first round in Sydney last week – to an Indian player ranked No. 361. It’s a long way from his run in Paris a year ago, where he made the quarterfinals and took Hubert Hurkacz to 7-5 in the third before going out. He’ll be behind Popyrin asking for a wild card in Melbourne).

Dominik Koepfer (GER): No. 181 ========> No. 259 (Koepfer, 28, reached his career high of No. 50 in May, 2021 and began the 2022 season at No. 54. He reached the final of a Challenger in North Carolina after the US Open, lost in the first round the next week – and hasn’t played since. He’s dropped outside the top 250 after dropping points from a run in Paris a year ago, in which he defeated Andy Murray and Félix Auger-Aliassime out of the qualifying).