Singles Ranking Thread
 

January 4
 

January 11
 

January 18, II
 

February 1, II
 

Hall grabs 3rd slam title
Jason Hall has successfully defended his 2000 points from last year's Australian Open by claiming a third Grand Slam. Whilst he doesn't gain any points, he stays well above any other competitors with 13,810 points at #1. Improving on his fourth round appearance, though, was Daniel Paez Blanco who is our Mover of the Week with a finals appearance grabbing him an extra 900 points and shooting him well ahead of any rivals. Barring a disaster, it seems that Hall and Blanco are going to be hard to catch on top of the rankings. Miroslav Brdar rises 3 to #11, Kim Vollan (despite recording a 0 score) rises 5 to #32 along with Jamee Hancianu who moves up 4 to #31.

On the down side
After making the final last year, Radek Spidla is our Loser of the Week after he was beaten in the quarter finals by Rasmus Olesen. After such great early season form, Spidla drops a whopping 1,040 points but stays at #3 by virtue of Radivoj Daneu's inability to make it past the first round - he too loses 490 points. Big falls also to Dwayne Murdoch who drops 5 to #15, whilst former #5 Zhijun Sun continues his free-fall down the rankings, down 8 to #37.

February 8, II
 

Zhijun, Joaquín, Brdar win titles
This is the busy part of the ATP tour, at least in terms of volume of tournaments with 12 events in 4 weeks. In Johannesburg, Zhijun Sun took the title with a win over defending champion Carlo Amato in the finals. He rises 5 spots to #32 after his recent slide, whilst Amato loses 200 points to slide 2 to #20. In Santiago, Sergio Joaquín took the win over a brave Kasper Buur to rise 3 to #40. But it is Buur who is our Mover of the Week as he rises 19 to #79. Finally, Brdar won his third title inside Croatia but lost 100 points anyway to slide 1 to #12. His opponent was Tom Vollan who jumps up 4 to #46.

On the down side
Doubles specialist Ross Onwye was in great form at the start of last year, and his finals appearance in Joberg was perhaps why as he takes the mantle of Loser of the Week. He slumps 25 spots to #89 in a huge freefall. Daniel Páez Blanco drops 150 points after electing not to defend his South American wins from last season, whilst Maaten Berg will next week return in Rotterdam after falling 19 to #90.

Banks, Mitchell the big winners
After last week falling out of the world's top 200, Mat Mitchell returned in style in Johannesburg by qualifying and making the semi finals to rise 44 places to #158. Whilst Randy Banks might have yesterday put in a performance he'd like to forget in Burnie, he gains 48 points and six places to #145, though it was no double a missed opportunity. In a correction to last week's rankings, Rick Langley gets the extra 32 points for winning Salinas whilst Yevgeny Pushkov loses 32 points for finishing second.

February 15, II
 

Boros takes first 500 title
Hungary's József Boros has taken advantage of the new points format on the PTA tour by taking out the first 500 point tournament in Rotterdam with a win over Danijel Micic in the final. Boros gains enough points to be the Mover of the Week and stays at #7, whilst Micic also gains 150 points to stay at #21. Scotland Rivers was also in his first PTA tour final and rose 9 spots to #53, whilst Dwayne Murdoch did enough to claim his first tour title and to bounce back from his post-Australian Open slump to #13. In Costa do Sauípe, Illya Altman limited the damage of the Costa do Sauípe points he was going to lose by defending the title and remaining at #9. He beat Randy Smeltz who jumps up a spot to a career high #15.

On the down side
Jason Hall was a finalist last year in Rotterdam and continues to leak points as he drops another 420 points, but it wasn't enough to displace Rick Henson as the Loser of the Week as the American shed 450 points and two spots to be #16. He does, however, have an entire clay court season to make up points after missing it through injury last year. A finalist last year in Costa do Sauípe, injuries saw Jamee Hancianu slide five spots to #36, whilst Marcelo Alavos drops semi final points from last year and slumps to #97 from #77 at the start of the week.

Oxenstierna moves into top four
Radivoj Daneu did make the semi final again this year in Rotterdam, but could not get past his countryman Micic and drops 90 points. That's enough for him to slide out of the top five to be replaced by Sven Oxenstierna; the Westerner into the top four for the first time since June 21. Elsewhere, Jack Loughman had a sensational week making the semi final in Bergamo as a qualifier and jumps 59 spots to be on the cusp of the top 200 at #219. He's also joined in a jump by Pierre Rose who leaps 25 places to #261.

February 22, II
 

Mustard shines in Memphis
An indifferent start to the singles year for Jojo Mustard has finally seen him take his first PTA title in Memphis with a straight sets win over Henry Charles. He gains 410 points and 4 spots to a career high #24, and is also the Mover of the Week. Charles, meanwhile, gains two spots for his final to #12. In Buenos Aires, Randy Smeltz secured his second title of the year from just his third final and consolodates his position at #15. His opponent Juan Moreno remains at #11 after failing to lift the title in his home country. In Marseille, Radek Špidlá gains 100 points for his win but stays at #3, while Miroslav Brdar falls two after falling at the same hurdle last year at Open 13.

Read takes first real tumble
Former world #16 Brett Read has taken his first real fall down the rankings leaderboard as he drops 30 places to #75 after failing to defend his points from Memphis last year. Read has not played for nearly a year now following an indefinite hiatus due to injury, and has expressed no desire to return. While he is the Loser of the Week, Zhijun Sun also tumbles down five places to #37 after not returning to Marseille where he won last season. That undoes all the good work from Johannesburg for the Chinese player, but he has few points to defend coming into the clay season. The other big pair to fall are brothers Hayden and Ross Onwye whose poor singles form finally resulted in them falling to #129 and #111 respectively.

Kao quarter earns him top 300 spot
West CWLand youngster Koal Kao has risen to a career high #259 after a brave quarter final appearance in Belgrade. Also in the round of eight was Rick Langley who jumps another eleven places to #172, and will this week attempt to qualify for the main draw in Copenhagen. Rob Bowenburg might have fallen short against Rick Henson in Marseille, but quarter final points for the first time in an age earns him #70 from #77.

March 1, II
 

Hurtado reigns supreme in Mexico
Colombia's Diego Hurtado has taken his first title of the season in the PTA 500 tournament in Acapulco, Mexico. Beating Juan Moreno in the final, Hurtado gains 380 points and five places to #20 to be the Mover of the Week. Moreno, meanwhile, drops a spot despite gaining thirty points as Dubai finalist Miroslav Brdar leaps three spots into #11. He could not pull off the win in his second final in as many weeks as Jefferson Drake conquered him in the final; gaining 150 points despite losing championship points from Delray Beach last season. In Copenhagen, Kasper Buur won his maiden tour title with a win over Yves Parmentier to leap into #61 from #84, whilst the Belgian moves into the top fifty for the first time as he settles in at #49.

Hall leaks points but stays at No. 1
World #1 Jason Hall could not defend the massive six hundred points from last year with a quarter final appearance. He drops 510 points and is our Loser of the Week. He retains his spot on the rankings, which can't be said for David Champion who slumps eight spots after bombing out first round in Dubai. Ninteh Doh, meanwhile, suffers a huge fall after electing not to defend his points from Acapulco; falling 25 spots to #93.

March 8, II
 

Durand wins at Cherbourg
While many were representing their countries in the first round of Davis Cup, Christopher Durand was taking the Challenger title in Cherbourg. He knocked over the #3 and #2 seeds in the quarters and semis before coming from a set down to knock off top seed Rob Bowenburg and was a worthy winner of his home tournament. He's this week's Mover of the Week, rising 15 spots to #109 and is in sight of a direct entry to the French Open if he can snatch some good results over the next two months. Bowenburg rises 1 to #70. With Davis Cup matches counting for ranking points this year, a few players rose following some good results.

On the down side
No one lost points this week.

A reminder
We only have 2 rankings updates over the next 4 weeks as both Indian Wells and Miami are considered two week events. So the next rankings update will be March 22.

March 22, II
 

Oxenstierna defeats Cowan to win Indian Wells
Sven Oxenstierna's second title of the season has seen him return to his career best ranking of #4 which he achieved following the French Open last season. With the second title of his career, he gains another 550 points after semi final points from last season dropped off. Nevertheless, the gain is enough to make him the Mover of the Week. Cowan made the fourth round last season and jumps one spot to #5 with a 450 point rise. Jefferson Drake, meanwhile, closes in on the #8 spot as he rises 1 to #9 with a 350 point increase.

On the down side
March was always going to be difficult for Radivoj Daneu considering poor form made it unlikely he'd defend his titles from Indian Wells and Miami the same time last season. He managed just a quarter final here and dropped a big 820 points and two places to #6 to make him this week's Loser of the Week. There's every chance he could fall even further next update - perhaps as low as #9 or #10.

5 April, II
 

I thought I had posted these up before, but obviously not.

April 12, II
 

Mustard and Joaquin take titles
Jojo Mustard won his second title of the year, defeating Rick Henson to take the title in Houston. He made the quarter finals last year, though, so only gains 100 points which is not enough to jump higher than #23. Henson's 60 points also sees him tread water this week at #18. In Casablanca, Spain's Sergio Joaquin was our Mover of the Week as he gained 205 points to jump three spots to #32. He beat Carlo Amato in the final, but Amato gained no points for his appearance and stays at #19.

On the down side
Tiago Matias decided against defending his title in Houston due to a thigh strain and loses to 320 points to be our Loser of the Week. Ion Andueza made the final last year in Casablanca but his quarter final here limits the damage to 195 points while Antonio Bachunelli suffers his first real blow of the year by leaking 160 points.

Broken the 140 barrier :cool:
Top 100 looks a long way off though. 57 points for 120, that's the next step!
Challenger title should see me right, craving one ;)

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