Phillipson regains 1 ranking
Nottinghamshire's David Phillipson has become Britain's No 1 ranked men's wheelchair tennis player for the second time in his career after reaching the quarter-finals of last week's Florida Open, an ITF Super Series event on the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, in Boca Raton.
Phillipson, 21, first became British No 1 in March 2008, a position he held until the end of September the same year, when he was overtaken by Scotland's Gordon Reid. Reid has remained as British No 1 ever since, but Phillipson's Florida Open performance has resulted in him moving one world ranking place above the 17-year-old Scot this week. Phillipson retains the world No 20 ranking he had last week after Frenchman Lahcen Majdi made even bigger gains on the NEC Tour in the past week to move ahead of both Phillipson and Reid.
Phillipson and Reid are among several British players moving on to this week's Pensacola Open, which begins on Wednesday, exactly a week after Phillipson beat Austrian world No 6 Martin Legner to secure his first career win over a top 10 ranked player in the first round of the Florida Open.
"I was delighted with my singles last week, it's a great start to the year" said Phillipson. "Martin Legner is the most experienced player of all those in the top 10 and to have beaten him and then reached my first quarter-final at a Super Series is a big confidence boost. I hope I can now go on and perform well this week in Pensacola before I go back home."
This week's wheelchair tennis world rankings also include career bests for several other British players, with Scotland's Kevin Simpson entering the world's top 40 in the men's singles for the first time after reaching the semi-finals of the South African Open. Ade Adepitan, a quarter-finalist at the South African Open, earns a career best men's singles world ranking of No 73.
In the women's singles world rankings, Wiltshire's Louise Hunt, runner-up in the South African Open, has earned her second career best world ranking in successive weeks after jumping 10 places to No 18. Meanwhile, Surrey's John Parfitt moves up to No 24 in the quad singles world rankings