Ranking Risers: Which British players rose up the rankings in April?
April marked the beginning of the clay court season, which saw many Brits earn career-high rankings, lift multiple titles across the ATP, WTA, ITF and wheelchair tours, and hit significant milestones.
With that, let’s take a closer look at who found themselves pushing up the rankings in April.
Jones soars over 400 places after maiden WTA semi-final
April marked a breakthrough month for Britain’s Fran Jones, who made it to a career-first WTA semi-final at the Copa Colsanitas.
After knocking out third seed Nuria Parrizas Diaz in the opening round, the 22-year-old – who had recently returned from injury – cruised through to the final four where she just missed out on a spot in the final to Tatjana Maria. Riding on a wave of confidence, Jones then went on to finish runner-up at the W25 Guayaquil event before finishing the month as a semi-finalist in Guayaquil the following week. This run saw Jones’ hard work be rewarded with an astounding 431-place rise up the rankings to conclude the month ranked world No.386.
Patten and Cash edge closer to ATP top 50
A feature at an ATP 250 final in Houston, and the addition of an 11th ATP Challenger title to their names saw one of Britain’s rising doubles partnerships edge one step close to the top 50 in April.
Having defeated Argentinians Guido Andreozzi and Guillermo Duran in straight sets at the Sarasota Challenger final, Henry Patten and Julian Cash continue on an upwards trajectory in what is still their first full year together. Cash now enters May ranked No.51 while Patten follows closely behind at No.53.
Bishop breaks into top 50 in women’s wheelchair rankings
Victory in both the singles and doubles events at the Lithuanian Open saw Ruby Bishop move 10 places in the women’s wheelchair rankings to end the month inside the top 50. The 19-year-old came out on top in a battle of the Brits against compatriot Martha Harris in the women’s singles, before teaming up with Harris to win the women’s doubles crown. Continuing her fine form, the young Brit then went on to make it to the semi-finals at the 4 Trofeo Citta’ di Cantu event, which ultimately saw her end the month at a career-high of No.43.
Appleton and Choinski reach career-highs, while Kartal is rewarded for seventh ITF title
April saw Emily Appleton claim the biggest title of her career so far after she joined forces with Germany’s Julia Lohoff to lift the W60 Chiasso doubles trophy. In what was Appleton’s third ITF doubles final of the season so far, the British, German pairing dominated against Andreea Mitu and Nadia Podoroska to wrap up the title in straight sets. A career-best title also led the 23-year-old to a career-high ranking, as she rose 22 places to land herself at No.166 in the WTA doubles rankings.
On the ATP tour, Jan Choinski continued to ascend the singles ranking following his semi-final appearance at the San Luis Potosi Challenger at the beginning of the month. Despite missing out on a place in the final to Germany’s Dominik Koepfer, Choinski’s efforts saw him break into the ATP top 200 to wrap up the month ranked world No.179 – a new career-high for the British No.7.
Meanwhile, Sonay Kartal jumped 38 places to reach world No.217 in the WTA singles rankings following her victory at the W25 Santa Margherita di Pula event where she overcame Ekaterina Makarova in three-sets to clinch the crown.