PARIS: Daniil Medvedev, who won his first tournament of the year at the weekend, retained his position at the top of the ATP rankings published on Monday while Nick Kyrgios climbed to his highest rank in two and half years. Medvedev, who is over 1,000 points clear of the injured Alexander Zverev, won his first title since claiming the US Open almost a year ago, when he roared past defending champion Cameron Norrie in the final of the hardcourt tournament in Los Cabos, Mexico.

Medvedev snapped a five-match losing streak in finals-a stretch that included his agonising five-set loss to Rafael Nadal in the Australian Open final in February. He also came up short this year in 's-Hertogenbosch and Halle. He did not get a chance at Wimbledon, where Russian and Belarussian players were banned because of Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

In spite of losing his title Norrie still moved up a place to 11 with the Pole Hubert Hurkacz nudging up to 10. The man on the slide, down two places, is Jannik Sinner, who chose to skip the event in Washington, losing the points he gained last year when he won it. Sinner's absence left the door open for Australian Nick Kyrgios who followed his journey to the Wimbledon final with his first title in three years. The Australian climbs 26 places to 37th, his best ranking since February 2020.

SAN JOSE: Daria Kasatkina of Russia returns a shot from Shelby Rogers in the singles finale at Mubadala Silicon Valley Classic, part of the Hologic WTA Tour, at Spartan Tennis Complex on August 07, 2022.- AFP

Swiatek dominates

Meanwhile, Daria Kasatkina was rewarded for her victory in San Jose at the weekend with a return to the top 10 for the first time since 2019, when the WTA rankings were released on Monday. The Russian, who climbed three places to ninth, beat Shelby Rogers in three sets on Sunday to claim her fifth WTA title on the hard courts in California.

It is her highest-ever ranking and marks her first showing in the top 10 since January 14, 2019 after which she slipped to number 75 in October 2020, a period affected badly by the coronavirus. Iga Swiatek retains the number one spot with almost twice as many points as number two Anett Kontaveit. Paula Badosa leapfrogs Maria Sakkari into third. American Danielle Collins fell eight places to 17th position while Liudmila Samsonova, who beat Kaia Kanepi in the women's final at the Washington Open at the weekend, climbed 18 places to number 42. - AFP