New USA Career-High Rankings, Feb. 23, 2015

Each week I will bring you a list of USAmerican players who have reached a new career-high ranking (CHR). This list covers all players in the Top 1000. Any player outside the Top 1000 will not be included unless they actually have earned at least one point from their previous career-high ranking. See all the CHR posts.

New ATP Career-High Rankings, February 23, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= pvs CHR	+  from last wk	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Dennis Novikov	253	271	+18	270	2/9/2015
Daniel Nguyen	274	296*	+22
Jason Jung	276	288	+12	286	8/11/2014
Connor Smith	289	304*	+15
Mitchell Krueger	292	293*	+1
Eric Quigley	428	463*	+35		2/9/2015
Peter Kobelt	534	537*	+3
Alexander Sarkissian	546	548*	+2
Deiton Baughman	608	611*	+3
Tommy Paul	790	799*	+9		2/9/2015
Michael Grant	991	994*	+3		2/9/2015
Alex Rybakov	1257	1329	+72	1327	2/2/2015

Not included: Thai-Son Kwiatkowski (1005), Reilly Opelka (1106)

The four guys at the top - all of whom spent at least some time in college - are all having solid years, and putting themselves within spitting distance of French Open qualies:

•  Novikov is in the best shape - he's already near the cut-off and is defending 0 points through the end of April, which is the cut-off for Roland Garros qualies. (His career high came via a quarterfinal at the Morelos, Mexico challenger - lost in three sets to eventual champion Victor Estrella Burgos.) 
• Nguyen has some work to do - he is defending 9 of his 177 points during that time. (He also reached the Morelos QF.)
• Jung and Smith are defending 28 and 21 points, respectively. So they'll need a couple of big results to make it. (Jung also made the Morelos QF, while Smith (welcome to the Top 300!) qualified and made the second round.)

(Krueger, who made his jump thanks to Di Wu falling, is defending 25 points through April.)

Two other mentions: Quigley qualified for his first ATP main draw in Delray Beach, recording wins over two Top-200 guys in the process. Here's a nice article from tennis.com about his grind.

Finally, a big jump for 18-year-old Alex Rybakov, courtesy of his first-round win over fellow American teen Nathan Ponwith a week+ ago at USA F7. Alex made the second round in 5 consecutive main draws before last week, when he faced eventual USA F8 champion Patricio Heras in the first round in Plantation.

New WTA Career-High Rankings, February 23, 2015

Player name	New CHR	Last wk *= previous   CHR	+  from last week	Pvs CHR If prior to last wk	Date achieved If prior to last wk
Madison Keys	19	20*	+1		2/2/2015
Madison Brengle	44	45*	+1
Grace Min	98	104	+6	100	2/2/2015
Bernarda Pera	298	301*	+3		2/9/2015
Alexa Guarachi	484	486*	+2
Nadja Gilchrist	565	571	+6	570	2/2/2015
Usue Arconada	715	723	+8	722	2/9/2015
Natalie Suk	893	894*	+1
Alexa Graham	964	966*	+2		2/9/2015
Terri Fleming	965	968	+3	966	2/2/2015
Dasha Ivanova	978	980	+2	979	2/9/2015

Not included: Caroline Dolehide (1013)

The two players to note here are Brengle and Min, both of whom scored first-round wins at the WTA event in Rio de Janeiro.

Things should pick up next week in the points-accumulation game on the women's side. In the meantime, here's a fun Q&A with Sachia Vickery (who's only 4 off her career high).