Scheepers surges up rankings

Johannesburg - South Africa's top-ranked women's player, Chanelle Scheepers, has climbed back up the world tennis rankings after a solid performance in Rome last week.

Scheepers, who reached the third round at the Italian Open, rose five places to 45th in the latest gobal list released on Monday.

The 28-year-old edged past Australian Jarmila Gajdosova in straight sets in her opening match in the Italian capital, and fought back from a set down to beat Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in the second round.

She was eliminated by French Open champion Li Na of China, going down 6-7, 2-6 in the third round.

Kevin Anderson, the SA men's No 1, climbed one position to 34th in the rankings, despite being knocked out in the first round in Rome.

Anderson lost 4-6, 5-7 against former world No 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in his opening match.

Women's WTA Tour rankings:

1. Victoria Azarenka (BLR) 9020 points
2. Maria Sharapova (RUS) 8390
3. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 7080
4. Petra Kvitova (CZE) 6275
5. Serena Williams (USA) 5695 (+1)
6. Samantha Stosur (AUS) 5440 (-1)
7. Li Na (CHN) 4965 (+2)
8. Marion Bartoli (FRA) 4870 (-1)
9. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN) 4586 (-1)
10. Angelique Kerber (GER) 3560 (+1)
11. Vera Zvonareva (RUS) 3440 (-1)
12. Sabine Lisicki (GER) 3012 (+1)
13. Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 2975 (+2)
14. Francesca Schiavone (ITA) 2940
15. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 2921 (-3)
16. Dominika Cibulkova (SVK) 2635 (+1)
17. Maria Kirilenko (RUS) 2475 (-1)
18. Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) 2355
19. Roberta Vinci (ITA) 2320
20. Flavia Pennetta (ITA) 2315 (+1)
45. Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 1300 (+5)

Men's ATP World Tour rankings (last week's positions in brackets):

1. (1) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 11800 points
2. (3) Rafael Nadal (Spain) 10060
3. (2) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 9790
4. (4) Andy Murray (Scotland) 7500
5. (5) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (France) 4965
6. (6) David Ferrer (Spain) 4640
7. (7) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 4500
8. (8) Janko Tipsarevic (Serbia) 3010
9. (9) Juan Martin Del Potro (Argentina) 2910
10. (11) Mardy Fish (U.S.) 2625
11. (10) John Isner (U.S.) 2620
12. (12) Gilles Simon (France) 2615
13. (14) Gael Monfils (France) 2165
14. (13) Nicolas Almagro (Spain) 2095
15. (15) Juan Monaco (Argentina) 1945
16. (16) Fernando Verdasco (Spain) 1765
17. (17) Feliciano Lopez (Spain) 1725
18. (19) Kei Nishikori (Japan) 1690
19. (18) Alexandr Dolgopolov (Ukraine) 1665
20. (22) Richard Gasquet (France)1600                                                                                                                             

34. (35) Kevin Anderson (RSA) 1 170