New USA Career-High Rankings, July 21, 2014

We interrupt our series on "The Worst. Week. Ever.™" to bring you our weekly list of USAmericans who achieved career-high rankings this week. As always, the list is not exhaustive but covers most players in the Top 1000 of each tour.

New ATP Career-High Rankings - July 21, 2014 (previous high & date achieved in parentheses)

Chase Buchanan: 184 (189 - 7/14/2014)
Kevin King: 322 (329 - 5/19/2014)
Jared Donaldson: 333 (343 - 7/7/2014)
Dennis Nevolo: 427 (446 - 7/7/2014)
Ernesto Escobedo: 515 (582 - 7/14/2014)
Sekou Bangoura: 553 (568 - 2/18/2013)
Connor Smith: 570 (606 - 7/7/2014)
Devin McCarthy: 582 (589 - 7/14/2014)
Evan Song: 610 (612 - 5/26/2014)
Kyle McMorrow: 721 (722 - 7/14/2014)
Peter Kobelt: 742 (809 - 7/7/2014)
Raymond Sarmiento: 910 (964 - 7/14/2014)
Tommy Paul: 1195 (1201 - 7/14/2014)
Aron Hiltzik: 1636 (1637 - 7/14/2014)

Yet again, the top guys aren't breaking any new ground. Our highest-ranked new career high is Chase Buchanan, who had a quarterfinal at the challenger in Granby, Quebec, but lost to eventual surprise finalist Fabrice Martin. In any event, it's the 7th CHR for the "former"* Buckeye in the past 10 weeks.

Nice jumps for Kevin King, who qualified for Bogota, and for Dennis Nevolo and Sekou Bangoura, both of whom reached the second round of the Binghamton Challenger. Hopefully this will provide some salve for their tough three-set losses.  Escobedo got a bit lucky with his walkover due to Denis Kudla's mononucleosis but he acquitted himself quite well.  And Sarmiento is having a nice post-USC climb from #1428 just a month ago.

Finally, Donaldson is knocking on the door of the Top 300 thanks to his first-round win in Binghamton, which is awful exciting, and Kobelt is in the Top 750 due to his semi run at Hong Kong Futures 1.

*Once a Buckeye, always a Buckeye, am I right?

New WTA Career-High Rankings - July 21, 2014 (previous high & date achieved in parentheses)

Lauren Davis: 43 (44 - 7/7/2014)

Grace Min: 111 (114 - 7/14/2014)

Nicole Gibbs: 142 (145 - 7/7/2014)

Louisa Chirico: 218 (240 - 7/14/2014)

Bernarda Pera: 329 (340 - 7/14/2014)

Danielle Lao: 383 (402 - 7/14/2014)

Tori Kinard: 392 (396 - 6/9/2014)

Denise Muresan: 427 (428 - 7/14/2014)

Peggy Porter: 531 (544 - 7/14/2014)

Katerina Stewart: 534 (543 - 7/14/2014)

Christina Makarova: 586 (591 - 7/14/2014)

Anamika Bhargava: 654 (656 - 7/7/2014)

Ellie Halbauer: 700 (701 - 7/7/2014)

Karina Vyrlan: 751 (756 - 7/14/2014)

Emina Bektas: 789 (797 - 8/19/2013)

Alexandra Riley: 800 (807 - 7/14/2014)

Alexa Guarachi: 818 (825 - 7/14/2014)

Tornado Alicia Black: 860 (863 - 7/14/2014)

Catherine Harrison: 863 (866 - 11/4/2013)

Emma Higuchi: 973 (984 - 7/14/2014)

Michaela Gordon: 976 (986 - 7/14/2014)

Rianna Valdes: 985 (993 - 7/14/2014)

Marie Norris: 1016 (1022 - 7/14/2014)

Kate Turvy: 1055 (1058 - 6/9/2014)

Usue Arconada: 1070 (1073 - 6/9/2014)

A huge women's list this week with a lot of +1s and +3s. Attention must be paid to Chirico, whose semi in Carson brought her ever so close to the Top 200. With literally nothing to defend until the US Open, it's an exciting time for the young New Jerseyan Yorker [ed. Thanks for the correction, @carolchirico!].

In defending her title this week (in Carson, which moved from Yakima for a year due to a fire), Nicole Gibbs took the lead in the USTA Pro Circuit US Open Wild Card Play-Off and set herself up well for a run at another new CHR. 

Lastly, another Pac-12er, Danielle Lao, is newly into the Top 400. Here's a nice profile of her from NorCal Tennis Czar. Unfortunately, Lao lost in the first round of qualies in Lexington this week. But this blog trusts that even higher planes await!