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Three smaller 250 tournaments without most of the top players mean plenty of opportunities for big rankings moves from the more rank-and-file types.
And that’s exactly what happened, as a number of players including Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain, Tomas Etcheverry and Alexandre Mueller moves up to career highs.
In Houston, Frances Tiafoe wins only his second career title, after a marathon two days with the second round and quarters on Saturday, followed by the semis and finals on Sunday after rain basically wiped out three days of play.
(For the complete, updated ATP Tour rankings, click here).
ON THE UPSWING
Casper Ruud (NOR): No. 5 ========> No. 4 (Another ATP 250 in the books for Ruud, who squeezes past Daniil Medvedev by some 100 points and into the No. 4 spot in the rankings).
Jannik Sinner (ITA): No. 9 ========> No. 8 (Sinner moves to a new career high without striking a ball, merely because Holger Rune drops 35 points he didn’t defend from a year ago. Nice work if you can get it).
Frances Tiafoe (USA): No. 15 ========> No. 11 (Tiafoe, the No. 1 seed and only one of two top-45 players in the Houston field, moves up to a career high as he wins his second career title. He’s still in the Monte Carlo draw. But after two singles matches Saturday and two on Sunday to catch up from the rain, that will be a tough commute).
Daniel Evans (GBR): No. 30 ========> No. 28 (Evans moves up two with his semifinal effort in Marrakech. He faces qualifier Ilya Ivashka in the first round of Monte Carlo).
Miomir Kecmanovic (SRB): No. 40 ========> No. 34 (Kecmanovic, who has been quiet for many months, moves into seeding range for the French Open with his effort to get to the Estoril final. He made the Estoril doubles final as well, moving his doubles ranking to a career-high No. 135. He drew Lorenzo Musetti in the first round in Monte Carlo).
Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP): No. 82 ========> No. 49 (The 30-year-old Spaniard, definitely under the radar, moves to a career high and a spot in the top 50 for the first time after winning in Marrakech. It’s his second career title, his first in over five years since Quito in 2018).
Jack Draper (GBR): No. 61 ========> No. 56 (Draper didn’t do a thing, but he still moves up five spots this week, along with a number of other players who made moves despite being idle – including Wu Yibing of China, who also moves up five to a career high of No. 55. Draper had originally been given a wild card into Monte Carlo. But with a number of withdrawals, he moved on his own ranking, allowing that wild card to go to Dominic Thiem).
Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG): No. 73 ========> No. 59 (Etcheverry moves to a career high after making the Houston final, and appears to have impressed everyone in town with his talent and grace).
Marco Cecchinato (ITA): No. 96 ========> No. 81 (Ceccinato, a former semifinalist at Roland Garros in 2018 – upsetting Novak Djokovic along the way – and whose ranking peaked at No. 16 early in 2019, moves up with a great effort to the semifinals in Estoril. It means he couldn’t make the date for the Monte Carlo qualifying. But it does take the pressure off in terms of getting into the main draw of the next two Grand Slams without having to go through the qualifying).
Alexandre Muller (FRA): No. 126 ========> No. 96 (Another veteran Frenchman in a mid-career surge moves into the top 100 for the first time, by making the final in Marrakech. He adds to the total to make it 11 Frenchmen in the top 100. Although none of them are in the top 40).
Matteo Arnaldi (ITA): No. 116 ========> No. 102 (A career high for the 22-year-old Italian, who wins the Challenger in Murcia).
Shintaro Mochizuki (JPN): No. 276 ========> No. 216 (The former 2019 Wimbledon junior champion, still just 19, reaches a new career high with a win at the Barletta Challenger in Italy).
ON THE DOWNSWING
Nick Kyrgios (AUS): No. 25 ========> No. 27 (Kyrgios has been idle since playing the Tokyo tournament in Oct. 2022. But it hasn’t affected his ranking a ton. Not yet anyway. Kyrgios didn’t defend a quarterfinal at Indian Wells, a fourth round in Miami and a semifinal effort in Houston a year ago. But it’s only dropped him five total spots).
Marc-Andrea Huesler (SUI): No. 48 ========> No. 60 (Huesler drops out of the top 50 as he drops points from winning a Challenger in Mexico City last year. He played Jaume Munar in the first round of Monte Carlo, and was already eliminated on Sunday).
John Isner (USA) No. 46 ========> No. 68 (Isner is playing a rather limited schedule. But losing in the second round of Houston – a match often rain delayed during a tough week – has his ranking at its lower point since Aug. 2009, although it’s probably not what he’s most concerned about at this point in his life and career).
Alex Molcan (SVK): No. 51 ========> No. 72 (Molcan had points from a final in in Marrakech a year ago. He was idle last week, so the points drop off).
David Goffin (BEL): No. 45 ========> No. 85 (He’s only 32, but Goffin’s 2023 season gives you the impression that he might not be around five more years. He drops the points from winning Marrakech in 2022, which he did not defend. He gets Diego Schwartzman – another player who has been struggline – in the first round of Monte Carlo).
Reilly Opelka (USA): No. 140 ========> No. 312 (The injured Opelka drops his points from winning the Houston clay-court event a year ago. Still no real word on when the former No. 17 might return).
THE CANADIANS
ROAD TO TURIN
ROAD TO MILAN
