Rankings Winners & Losers: Medvedev into Top 5, Keys and Kenin rise

There were two major breakthroughs among the upper echelon of the ATP rankings this week, with Daniil Medvedev crashing the Top 5 and Roberto Bautista Agut debuting in the Top 10 after both men put together impressive runs during the US Open lead-up season over the last few weeks.

Having only just broken the Top 10 for the first time after Wimbledon, Medvedev put together three of the best weeks of his career over the last three weeks, winning 14 of 16 matches to reach finals in Washington,  D.C. and the Masters 1000 in Canada, and win his first Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati.

His triumph at the Western & Southern Open propelled him from No. 8 to No. 5, his Top 5 debut.

“That’s a huge achievement which I couldn’t probably believe three weeks ago, because I just entered the Top 10,” Medvedev told ATPTour.com. “I was saying, ‘Well, it’s going to be good if I manage to stay there for some time, hopefully for a long time.’ But now I’m Top 5. That’s huge.”

Medvedev is the first Russian to be in the Top 5 of the ATP rankings since Nikolay Davydenko was ranked No. 5 during the 2010 Wimbledon fortnight. Davydenko’s career-high ranking was No. 3.

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By reaching the quarterfinals in Cincinnati—his second Masters 1000 quarterfinal in as many weeks, having gone that far in Montreal, too—Bautista Agut secured his Top 10 debut, rising from No. 11 to No. 10. It was a long wait for the Spaniard—who has been in the Top 30 every week since May 12, 2014.

There were two Top 20 debutants on the ATP rankings, with Canadian teenager Felix Auger-Aliassime moving from No. 21 to No. 19 and Argentine Guido Pella rising up from No. 22 to No. 20. And Serbian teenager Miomir Kecmanovic made his Top 50 debut, rising from No. 58 to No. 49 after qualifying and reaching the third round in Cincinnati, taking out Alexander Zverev along the way.

Other big movers included former No. 7 Richard Gasquet, who rose from No. 56 to No. 34 after reaching the semifinals in Cincy; Andrey Rublev, who jumped from No. 70 to No. 47 after reaching the quarters; and Yoshihito Nishioka, who went from No. 77 to No. 59 after also reaching the quarters.

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After winning her first Premier 5 title in Cincinnati, the biggest title of her career, Madison Keys surged back into the WTA’s Top 10 this week, rising from No. 18 to No. 10. It’s her first time in the Top 10 since the 2018 Wimbledon fortnight, and she’s now the No. 2-ranked American after Serena Williams.

Another American, 20-year-old Sofia “Sonya” Kenin, moved up from No. 22 to No. 20—her Top 20 debut—after reaching back-to-back Premier 5 semifinals at Toronto and Cincinnati. She beat the World No. 1 at both events—Ashleigh Barty in Toronto and Naomi Osaka in Cincinnati—making her the first woman to beat World No. 1s in back-to-back weeks since Lindsay Davenport in October 2001.

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Elsewhere, Polish teenager Iga Swiatek made her Top 50 debut, rising from No. 55 to No. 49, and former No. 2 Svetlana Kuznetsova rose from No. 153 to No. 62 after reaching the final of Cincinnati, where she beat three Top 10 players at the same tournament for the first time in her career.

There were a few notable drops, as well, with former No. 3s Marin Cilic and Milos Raonic both falling out of the Top 20. Cilic fell from No. 18 to No. 23 after losing first round in Cincinnati, having made the semifinals last year, while Raonic dipped from No. 20 to No. 22 after withdrawing due to a back injury this year, having reached the quarters last year. It’s Cilic’s first time outside the Top 20 since July 2014.