Bulgaria’s Dimitrov rises to 28th in ATP Tour rankings after Monte-Carlo Masters
Grigor Dimitrov jumped six spots in the ATP Tour rankings, to a career-best 28th, after reaching his first quarterfinal at an ATP Tour Masters event, in Monte-Carlo last week.
Dimitrov, who lost to Rafael Nadal in three sets, is one of three players that saw their ranking improve on the back of strong performances in Monte-Carlo – Italy’s Fabio Fognini rose eight spots to 24th after reaching the semifinal and Finland’s Jarkko Nieminen jumped 10 spots to 39th after making it to the quarterfinal stage.
Dimitrov, whose target for this year is to finish in the ATP Tour top 20, can further improve on his ranking with a strong performance at the Barcelona Open this week. The Bulgarian did not play in the tournament last year, so he can only gain ranking points without needing to defend any.
As the 14th seed, Dimitrov has a first-round bye. In the second round, he will play the winner of the match between former Barcelona Open winner Tommy Robredo and qualifier Marc Lopez.
Novak Djokovic, who broke Nadal’s streak of 46 straight wins and eight consecutive titles in Monte-Carlo, remains at the top of the ATP Tour, with a hefty lead over his closest rivals. Britain’s Andy Murray, who exited Monte-Carlo early after a third-round loss, dropped to third as Roger Federer (who did not play in the tournament) is now ranked second in the world.
David Ferrer, seeded first in Barcelona, is fourth and Nadal remains fifth. Seven-time Barcelona Open champion Nadal – including four titles in the last five years, each time defeating Ferrer in the final – has won three of the five tournaments he has competed in (reaching the final in the other two) since his return from a seven-month injury lay-off.
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