By reaching back-to-back quarterfinals at Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, Scotsman Andy Murray has secured his career's first promotion to Sanyaku rank. The 3-set sweep of Stanislaw Wawrinka of Switzerland in the round of 16 secures that Murray will enter the Australian Open at least as Komosubi. Should he beat Argentine Del Potro in the quarterfinals, he would even be promoted to Sekiwake.
Other ranking decisions already taken include:
- After two disappointing Grand Slam tournaments, Ana Ivanovic will lose Ozeki rank and be demoted to Sekiwake,
- Maria Sharapova -- a former Ozeki who withdrew injured -- will be demoted from Sekiwake to Komosubi,
- Marat Safin (former O), Rainer Schuettler (former S), David Ferrer (former S), Svetlana Kuznetsova (former K), Jie Zheng, and Agniezka Radwanska will all lose Komosubi rank and enter the Australian Open unranked.
On the positive side,
- veteran Patty Schnyder will regain her Komosubi rank (first obtained in 1998, last held in 2004), as a result of her second grand slam quarterfinal participation this year after Roland Garros,
- Elena Dementieva (S, former O), Jelena Jankovic (K, former S), and Dinara Safina (K, former S) have already defended their ranks and may well get promoted up further if they continue to win,
- Novak Djokvic (O, kadoban) and Andy Roddick (K, former O) can defend their ranks tomorrow by winning their round of 16 matches, against Tommy Robredo (former K) and Fernando Gonzalez (former S), repectively.
Finally, the Yokozuna -- Nadal, Federer, and the Williams sisters -- need not defend their rank (as it is for life), but all four continue to go strong.
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