New USA Career-High Rankings, Oct. 5, 12 & 19

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

It's been great to see the continued improvements on the live-tennis.eu site for both ATP and WTA players including ages and career-high rankings, with special notice for new career highs. It almost (almost) makes my work here moot but since this is a USA-focused blog, and one that provides some additional details, I will continue this periodic update for now. Please let me know in comments if you have suggestions for improvements!

Guide:

• If the ranking was a new career high, it will be noted in bold. 
• If it tied his or her previous career high, it will be noted with an asterisk.* 
• If it marks his or her debut in the ranking it will be noted in red.

New ATP Career-High Rankings, October 5-19, 2015

Player name	10/5/15 ranking	10/12/15 ranking	10/19/15 ranking	Previous CHR	Date achieved
Denis Kudla	67	65	68	73	9/28/2015
Austin Krajicek	124	97	96	113	8/17/2015
Mitchell Krueger	231	230	234	239	8/17/2015
Frances Tiafoe	254	255	228	251	9/21/2015
Nicolas Meister	328	288	289	302	2/2/2015
Tommy Paul	351	329	321	344	9/21/2015
Deiton Baughman	361	352	355	372	9/28/2015
Sekou Bangoura	387	372	369	419	9/28/2015
Noah Rubin	543	527	526	532	7/14/2015
Jared Hiltzik	574	578	585	611	9/28/2015
Taylor Fritz	694	339	232	667	9/14/2015
Eric Johnson	704	709	719	707	9/21/2015
Alexios Halebian	782	780	658	753	8/31/2015
Michael Grant	838	842	846	844	9/15/2015
Ryan Shane	882	888	889	1020	11/3/2015
Nathan Pasha	932	930	920	944	9/28/2014
Winston Lin	934	933	933*	982	9/14/2015
Hunter Nicholas	976	953	955	969	9/28/2015
Gonzales Austin	1125	1084	1085	1117	9/28/2015
Alexander Centenari	1363	1370	1373	1462	9/14/2015
Tim Kopinski	1447	1348	1356	1436	9/28/2015
Nicholas Podesta	1447	1458	1464	1463	6/22/2015
Robert Galloway	1744	1544	1571	n/a	n/a
Ulises Blanch	n/a	1998	2001	n/a	n/a
Strong Kirchheimer	n/a	1998	2001	n/a	n/a

Highlights:

Austin "Danger" Krajicek: The best week of his professional tennis life happened the week of October 5, which Austin Krajicek reached the quarterfinals of the ATP 500 tournament in Tokyo as a qualifier. That result vaulted him into the Top 100 for the first time and should secure his spot in the 2016 Australian Open - his first grand slam direct entry. A good run at a Challenger or two this fall will cement that.

Those teens: 17-year-old Taylor Fritz's historic back-to-back Challenger wins got everyone's attention, of course, and for good reason. He's seemingly locked up his place in qualifying at the Australian Open, and will have plenty of wildcards coming his way. How he balances Challengers and tour-level events next year will be a matter of great interest.

Frances Tiafoe (17) is also looking good for the Aussie qualies thanks to his semifinal run in Fairfield. Tommy Paul (18) picked up first round wins in Sacramento and Fairfield; Deighton Baughman (19) reached the semis of the Costa Mesa Futures and got his first Challenger win in Medellin; Noah Rubin (19) notched 5 wins over two Futures; and 17-year-old Ulises Blanch got his breakthrough first ATP point at a Futures in Argentina.

Breakthroughs: Nicolas Meister (Sacramento QF) made his Top 300 debut; Sekou Bangoura (2 Challenger match wins) made his Top 400 debut; Jared Hiltzik made his Top 600 debut; Alexios Halebian (USA F29 finalist) made his Top 700 debut; and Ryan Shane (USA F27 champ) made his Top 1000 (and Top 900) debut.

New WTA Career-High Rankings, October 5-19, 2015

Player name	10/5/15 ranking	10/12/15 ranking	10/19/15 ranking	Previous CHR	Date achieved
Samantha Crawford	182	178*	175	178	9/21/2015
Kristie Ahn	236	223	224	248	9/14/2015
Danielle Lao	276*	265	269	276	9/28/2015
Robin Anderson	361	364	363	371	9/28/2015
Sabrina Santamaria	814	519	520	811	9/28/2015
Alexa Graham	536	541	482	530	9/14/2015
Raveena Kingsley	653	658	643	648	9/21/2015
Caroline Price	905	812	782	886	7/13/2015
Francesca Di Lorenzo	905	852	849	891	8/10/2015
Nicole Coopersmith	876	876*	825	892	9/21/2015
Eva Raszkiewicz	930	928	924	929	5/18/2015
Amy Zhu	1082	1045	1043	1081	9/28/2015
Ashley Kratzer	1184	1144	1141	1158	8/10/2015
Shelby Talcott	n/a	1253	1254	n/a	n/a

Highlights:

California Girls: 4 of the top 5 women on this list went to college in California, and all picked up points at $50Ks over the past month. Kristie Ahn (Stanford) reached 2 quarterfinals in Mexico. Danielle Lao (USC) got a win in Kirkland, Washington. Robin Anderson (UCLA) got some points by qualifying for Las Vegas. Sabrina Santamaria (USC) was a surprise semifinalist as a qualifier in Kirkland (she finally lost to Nicole Gibbs (USC Stanford)).

Breakthroughs: Into the Top 500 for Alexa Graham (17), who won a $10K in Hilton Head Island, S.C. Into the Top 800 for Caroline Price (UNC) reached the final of the $10K in Charleston, S.C. but the final was canceled thanks to persistent rain. And into the rankings for Shelby Talcott (Iowa), who got her minimum 3rd point at a $10K in Tunisia.