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The title win at the Bengaluru Open last week hauled India’s Prajnesh Gunneswaran up by 34 spots to a career-high ranking of 110th in the new ATP World Rankings released on Monday, November 19. It helped the southpaw replace Yuki Bhambri as the new No. 1 men’s singles player from the country.
The $150,000 ATP Challenger tournament was his second title at this level after his earlier triumph at the Kunming Open in April. In between, Gunneswaran also made it to the final of the Ningbo Challenger in October, where he went down to Thomas Fabbiano in three gruelling sets.
The 29-year-old started the 2018 season ranked 243 and he has now moved up more than 100 places in what has been the best season of his career. Gunneswaran will now look to extend his winning streak further when he starts his challenge at the Pune Challenger this week.
Bhambri, meanwhile, dropped 21 places to 128th. He has not been in action since bowing out in the first round of the European Open in October due to a knee injury.
Ramkumar Ramanathan also slipped six spots to 130th this week. Having had to skip the Bengaluru Open last week due to an ATP commitment, the 24-year-old will be back this week to play in Pune.
Both Saketh Myneni and Sumit Nagal too improved their rankings. Myneni has been working his way back into the circuit following a shoulder injury and his runner-up finish at Bengaluru was his best performance all season. It helped him climb up 47 rungs to 265th.
2017 Bengaluru Open champion Sumit Nagal had been struggling all season until he came back to the scene of his biggest glory, where he reached the quarter-finals. It propelled a rise of 18 spots to 291 for the 21-year-old.
In doubles, Rohan Bopanna is still the leading player from India at No. 37, followed by Divij Sharan one place behind.
Big jump for Raina and Thandi in doubles
On the women's tour, Ankita Raina and Karman Thandi both made huge jumps in the doubles rankings after winning their first WTA doubles title together at the USD 125,000 Taipei OEC Open on Sunday. The gigantic effort pushed Raina up 122 spots to 174th. Thandi made an even bigger leap, rising 133 places to 200th.
