PARIS, 23 Aug: Alexander Zverev’s victory in the Cincinnati Masters saw the German leapfrog Rafael Nadal to take fourth spot in the new ATP rankings released on Monday.
The 24-year-old, who won Olympic gold in Tokyo, took less than an hour to crush Andrey Rublev 6-2, 6-3 in Cincinnati on Sunday.
The win lifts him to fourth for the first time since May 2019 and shunts Nadal down to fifth.
The Spaniard has struggled with injury to his left foot since his French Open semi-final defeat and announced last week that he would miss the US Open, which starts next week, and end his season with immediate effect.
Defending champion Dominic Thiem and 20-time major winner Roger Federer will also be absent from Flushing Meadows and have also terminated their seasons — they remain sixth and ninth respectively.
The young Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime rose two places to 15th while the Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov and Frenchman Gael Monfils both returned to the top 20. (AFP)