Gilles Muller moved up to a career-high of No. 28, following his victory at the Apia International Sydney where he lifted his first ATP World Tour title. Competing in his sixth final (1-5), the Luxembourg native defeated Daniel Evans 7-6(5), 6-2 in front of his two sons, Lenny and Nils. He also beat two-time defending champion Viktor Troicki in the semi-finals, ending the Serbian’s 10-match winning streak at the tournament. After being presented the trophy by all-time great Rod Laver, Muller said, “It means a lot. Like you can see, I was pretty emotional out there on the court. For the past two or three years, it was probably my biggest goal to win a title. I always dreamed of that, and I was so close last year... So I was very scared and worried that I was going to be one of those players who never win a title. Now I have it, and it just feels great.” Read & Watch Report
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Jack Sock rose three spots in the Emirates ATP Rankings to a career-high No. 20 after lifting his second ATP World Tour title last week at the ASB Classic in Auckland, where he beat Joao Sousa 6-3, 5-7, 6-3. “I was able to put in a lot of work in the off-season and I think it paid off. I was able to make lots of gains and lots of strides forward. I think it really showed this week.” The 24-year-old Nebraska native added to his 2015 Houston title and improves to 2-4 in tour-level finals. Read & Watch Report
Joao Sousa capitalised on a first-round win over No. 26-ranked Albert Ramos-Vinolas in Auckland en route to his eighth ATP World Tour final (2-6). The Portuguese jumped seven places to No. 37, nine spots off his career-high of No. 28 (16 May 2016).
Evans failed in his attempt to become the first British singles champion in Sydney since Tim Henman in 1997 (d. Carlos Moya), but surged up 16 places to a career-high No. 51. The last time a British trio was ranked in the Top 50 was on 13 March 2006 with Andy Murray at No. 44, Henman at No. 45 and Greg Rusedski at No. 46. The 26-year-old Evans won four three-set matches en route to his first ATP World Tour final, including beating World No. 8 Dominic Thiem in the quarter-finals. It was the first Top 10 win of his career.
Dudi Sela rocketed 20 spots from No. 87 to No. 67 – after he beat Jan-Lennard Struff in Canberra for his 21st ATP Challenger Tour crown. The Israeli reached the Aircel Chennai Open semi-finals in the first week of the 2017 ATP World Tour season. The title puts Sela five titles behind Yen-Hsun Lu for the all-time Challenger lead. Read ATP Challenger Tour Spotlight
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