Felix Auger-Aliassime returns a shot to Miomir Kecmanovic during the Western and Southern Open at Lindner Family Tennis Center.Aaron Doster/USA TODAY Sports via Reuters
Félix Auger-Aliassime is now the top-ranked Canadian in men’s tennis after jumping into 19th spot in the latest ATP Tour rankings released Monday.
The 19-year-old from Montreal moved up two spots to become just the second Canadian to break into the top 20 since the ATP started publishing rankings in 1973.
Auger-Aliassime jumped past Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., who moved down two spots to No. 22. Raonic, the only other Canadian to crack the top 20, has a career-high ranking of No. 3.
Denis Shapovalov of Richmond Hill, Ont., fell four spots to No. 38.
Auger-Aliassime’s rise to the top of Canadian tennis comes despite the teenager putting up some mediocre results on grass and hardcourt. He hasn’t advanced beyond the third round of a tournament since reaching the semi-finals of a Wimbledon warm-up event in late June.
He was drummed out of the first round of the recent Masters event in Cincinnati after No. 58 Miomir Kecmanovic posted a convincing 6-3, 6-3 win.
He reached the third round of his hometown event the week before at the Rogers Cup, but was pushed to a third-set tiebreak by Vancouver’s Vasek Pospisil – ranked No. 205 – then moved on to the third round when the ailing Raonic retired before the third set of their second-round match. Auger-Aliassime was then beaten in three sets by No. 8 Karen Khachanov.
However, with an injured Raonic unable to defend points and Shapovalov also struggling, Auger-Aliassime was able to take the mantle of top-ranked Canadian heading into the coming U.S. Open.
The top four of Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, Spain’s Rafael Nadal, Switzerland’s Roger Federer and Austria’s Dominic Thiem remained unchanged, with Russia’s Daniil Medvedev jumping three spots into fifth.
In women’s rankings, Rogers Cup champion Bianca Andreescu of Mississauga fell one spot to 15th after sitting out the Cincinnati tournament.
Japan’s Naomi Osaka, Ashleigh Barty of Australia, Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic, Romania’s Simona Halep and Elina Svitolina of Ukraine round out the top five.