lowest-ranked players to win a tournament

vive le beau jeu ! said:
list of lowest-ranked players to win an ATP-tour-level tournament
(colour indicates the surface/conditions; highest career ranking, age at the time & total number of titles are also shown; last thing is the way they made it into the draw)

  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
  • #453 yahiya doumbia SEN (#74), 24, lyon 1988 (1st/2, twice in the list !) Q
  • #397 kelly jones USA (#86), 25, singapore 1989 (1st/2, only one in the list, with krickstein, to defend his title) Q
  • #390 danny saltz USA (#122), 22, auckland 1984 (1st/1) Q
  • #??? aaron krickstein USA (#6), 16, tel aviv 1983 (1st/9, see bottom note) WC?
  • #364 roberto arguello ARG (#49), 20, venice 1983 (1st/1) Q
  • #355 pablo andujar ESP (#32), 32, marrakech 2018 (4th/4) PR
  • #352 fernando gonzalez CHI (#5), 19, orlando 2000 (1st/11) Q
  • #349 tommy haas GER (#2), 26, houston 2004 (6th/15) PR
  • #316 santiago ventura ESP (#65), 24, casablanca 2004 (1st/1) Q
  • #297 steve darcis BEL (#44), 23, amersfoort 2007 (1st/2) Q
  • #282 yahiya doumbia SEN (#74), 32, bordeaux 1995 (2nd/2, twice in the list !) Q
  • #272 robert van't hof USA (#25), 30, auckland 1984 (2nd/2) Q
  • #258 nicolas lapentti ECU (#6), 19, bogota 1995 (1st/5, same week as doumbia !) Q
  • #244 kei nishikori JAP (#4), 18, delray beach 2008 (1st/12) Q
  • #243 pat cash AUS (#4), 24, hong kong 1990 (7th/7, played & lost the final in seoul the previous week, while ranked #590... against the same final opponent: antonitsch) WC
  • #243 andy murray UK (#1), 32, antwerp 2019 (46th/46) PR
  • #240 nicolas mahut FRA (#37), 31, 's-hertogenbosch 2013 (1st/4) Q
  • #218 leonardo lavalle MEX (#51), 24, tel aviv 1991 (1st/1) Q
  • #217? heinz gunthardt SWI (#22), 19, springfield 1978 (1st/5, first time a LL won a tournament) LL
  • #217 sergio casal ESP (#31), 22, florence 1985 (1st/1) Q
  • #214 mark philippoussis AUS (#8!), 29, newport 2006 (11th/11, and he played his 1st final at at scottstdale 1995, being ranked #272) WC
  • #212 mark edmondson AUS (#15), 21, AO 1976 (1st/6) DA
  • #212 mardy fish USA (#7), 24, houston 2006 (2nd/6) WC
  • #210 carsten arriens GER (#109), 23, guaruja 1992 (1st/1) Q
  • #210 jo-wilfried tsonga FRA (#5), 33, montpellier 2019 (17th/17) PR
  • #209 sergiy stakhovsky UKR (#31), 22, zagreb 2008 (1st/4) LL
  • #204 jose francisco altur ESP (#88!), 23, san marino 1989 (1st/1) Q
(active players in bold)

finalists whose ranking was worse than hewitt's:
#866 sluiter
#590 cash

feel free to help me to correct me or/and complete the list, it's a team effort. :)
- here i only included players ranked #200 and further
- remember that ATP rankings started in 1973

as regards krickstein, i had read many times that he wasn't ranked at the time, which surprised me as he reached the 4th round of the US open a few weeks before his maiden title. does anybody have more information about that ?
for tennisabstract.com, he wasn't ranked:
http://www.tennisabstract.com/cgi-bin/player.cgi?p=AaronKrickstein&f=ACareerqq
(but it seems that when rankings are missing for a particular week, they display the last ranking available in their database, so it's not 100% reliable !)

special mention for yahiya doumbia: only won 24 ATP-level career matches, but won 2 tournaments... each time as a qualifier !
(an achievement matched by nicolas mahut... with his 2 's-hertogenbosch titles won as a qualifier: 2013 and 2015)

doumbia, lapentti, ventura and altur won the first ATP-level tournament they played.
Click to expand...
we might have to add juan manuel cerundolo to the list in a few days: the 19 years old just qualified for cordoba's final and he's currently ranked #335!
 
Well done to Cerundolo for joining a very exclusive club that Lapentti is part of !

I only just noticed now that Doumbia was on the list more than once.

I have to admit that I don't follow the ATP tour in general anywhere as extensively as I used to do in previous eras / decades, but stories / runs like Cerundolo's in Cordoba last week are always great to see.
 
The 1983 rankings are wholly broken on the ATP site and any site that takes them from there, because the official data for that year is garbled/missing.
Per OER (thanks Slasher for his work on old rankings!!), Krickstein was ranked #178 the week he won Tel Aviv, and jumped to #96 the following week.
 
25-year-old Tim van Rijthoven, ranked #205, celebrates his second ever ATP main draw appearance by winning 'bosch beating Fritz, FAA and new old #1 Medvedev with a virtual bagel in the process. When was the last time the world no. 1/2 lost to a player who'd never been in the top 200? (Not anymore, Tim jumps into top 150 after this win.) Beautiful scenes.
 
AnOctorokForDinner said:
25-year-old Tim van Rijthoven, ranked #205, celebrates his second ever ATP main draw appearance by winning 'bosch beating Fritz, FAA and new old #1 Medvedev with a virtual bagel in the process. When was the last time the world no. 1/2 lost to a player who'd never been in the top 200? (Not anymore, Tim jumps into top 150 after this win.) Beautiful scenes.
Click to expand...
Incredible scenes :cool:
 
@vive le beau jeu !

You and I know which picture truly matters here....


130705115156-ivanisevic-2001.jpg
 
tudwell said:
Opelka too in Newport! Currently outside the top 1,000. Would be the record by far if the list in the OP is comprehensive. Still a couple of matches to go, though.
Click to expand...
Who is his next opponent and what are the other two surviving names in the draw?
 
#777 cilic close to beat the record in hangzhou?!
... but how come they already updated his ranking today (#373 now... with this QF or SF points?) before the end of the tournament?!
(even if it's spread over two different weeks, it's surprising) :unsure:

#777 already places him higher (ok, 'lower') :giggle: than cash in the 'runner-up list'...
  • #866 sluiter
  • #777 cilic
  • #590 cash
 
Last edited:
How does this not have its own thread? (or am I just missing it?) coming back from all he's been through the past couple of years to do this is tremendous. So happy for him. What a player.
 
ibbi said:
How does this not have its own thread? (or am I just missing it?) coming back from all he's been through the past couple of years to do this is tremendous. So happy for him. What a player.
Click to expand...
I was also searching for that kind of thread, I guess this is the only one. Please start a new one.
 
according to the ATP, 'the No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the sixth tour-level finalist ranked outside the world’s Top 500':
www.atptour.com

Jenson Brooksby saves MP again in Houston, plays Frances Tiafoe for title | ATP Tour | Tennis

Jenson Brooksby saved match point for the third time in Houston, upsetting top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) in the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

in this thread, we have two winners outside the top-500:
  • #777 marin cilic CRO (#3), 35, hangzhou 2024 (21th/21) WC
  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
... and two runner-ups outside the top-500:
  • #866 raemon sluiter, s'hertogenbosch 2009
  • #590 pat cash, seoul 1990
so we're missing somebody, which is unacceptable... can you help? :unsure:
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
according to the ATP, 'the No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the sixth tour-level finalist ranked outside the world’s Top 500':
www.atptour.com

Jenson Brooksby saves MP again in Houston, plays Frances Tiafoe for title | ATP Tour | Tennis

Jenson Brooksby saved match point for the third time in Houston, upsetting top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) in the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

in this thread, we have two winners outside the top-500:
  • #777 marin cilic CRO (#3), 35, hangzhou 2024 (21th/21) WC
  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
... and two runner-ups outside the top-500:
  • #866 raemon sluiter, s'hertogenbosch 2009
  • #590 pat cash, seoul 1990
so we're missing somebody, which is unacceptable... can you help? :unsure:
Click to expand...

Kevin Ullyett, Nottingham 1999, #574 at the time.
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
according to the ATP, 'the No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the sixth tour-level finalist ranked outside the world’s Top 500':
www.atptour.com

Jenson Brooksby saves MP again in Houston, plays Frances Tiafoe for title | ATP Tour | Tennis

Jenson Brooksby saved match point for the third time in Houston, upsetting top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) in the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

in this thread, we have two winners outside the top-500:
  • #777 marin cilic CRO (#3), 35, hangzhou 2024 (21th/21) WC
  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
... and two runner-ups outside the top-500:
  • #866 raemon sluiter, s'hertogenbosch 2009
  • #590 pat cash, seoul 1990
so we're missing somebody, which is unacceptable... can you help? :unsure:
Click to expand...
brooksby wasn’t just a qualifier, but got a WC into qualifying. Guessing that is sort of rare to go that deep off a WC into qualies
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
according to the ATP, 'the No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the sixth tour-level finalist ranked outside the world’s Top 500':
www.atptour.com

Jenson Brooksby saves MP again in Houston, plays Frances Tiafoe for title | ATP Tour | Tennis

Jenson Brooksby saved match point for the third time in Houston, upsetting top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) in the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

in this thread, we have two winners outside the top-500:
  • #777 marin cilic CRO (#3), 35, hangzhou 2024 (21th/21) WC
  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
... and two runner-ups outside the top-500:
  • #866 raemon sluiter, s'hertogenbosch 2009
  • #590 pat cash, seoul 1990
so we're missing somebody, which is unacceptable... can you help? :unsure:
Click to expand...
the power of autism
 
vive le beau jeu ! said:
according to the ATP, 'the No. 507 in the PIF ATP Rankings became the sixth tour-level finalist ranked outside the world’s Top 500':
www.atptour.com

Jenson Brooksby saves MP again in Houston, plays Frances Tiafoe for title | ATP Tour | Tennis

Jenson Brooksby saved match point for the third time in Houston, upsetting top seed Tommy Paul 7-6(5), 3-6, 7-6(6) in the semi-finals of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship.
www.atptour.com www.atptour.com

in this thread, we have two winners outside the top-500:
  • #777 marin cilic CRO (#3), 35, hangzhou 2024 (21th/21) WC
  • #550 lleyton hewitt AUS (#1), 16, adelaide 1998 (1st/30, almost defended his title the following year) WC
... and two runner-ups outside the top-500:
  • #866 raemon sluiter, s'hertogenbosch 2009
  • #590 pat cash, seoul 1990
so we're missing somebody, which is unacceptable... can you help? :unsure:
Click to expand...
Brooksby saved MPs in three different matches during his Houston title run, but it seems the final was the easiest win.
 
Sudacafan said:
Can be. I’d like someone to check that.
Click to expand...
seems there's (at least?) another example...
Gizo said:
Quite a few players have won titles, after saving match points in 2 different matches along the way. I don't think any player has done that more than once, but I could be wrong. Below are examples I'm aware of where players did so back to back in their semi-final and final matches:

Davydenko at Moscow in 2004 (1 vs. Youzhny and then 3 vs. Rusedski)
Moodie at Tokyo in 2005 (4 vs. Nieminen and then 2 vs. Ancic)
Querrey at LA in 2010 (1 vs. Tipsarevic and then 1 vs. Murray)

VIjay Amritraj won his title at Bretton Woods in 1973, saving match points in 3 different matches along the way (I think the only time that has happened); 3 vs. Humphrey Hose in the 1st round (trailing 0-5 and 0-40 in the final set), 3 vs. Laver in his QF (trailing 4-5 and 0-40 on Laver's serve in the 2nd set) and 2 vs. Connors in the final (trailing 4-5 and 15-40 in the final set).
Click to expand...
vijay.png

PS: i have this strange feeling it (3 different matches saving MPs) happened recently with another qualifier... who may not have reached the final of the tournament, though :unsure: (but maybe i'm just tired and confused!)
 
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