Federer closes in on Nadal after Australian Open win, Cilic 3rd

Madrid Jan 29 (IANS) Switzerland s Roger Federer closed to within 115 points of top-ranked Rafael Nadal of Spain in the Association of Tennis Professionals men s singles rankings released on Monday after winning the Australian Open.

Nadal s record-extending 20th Grand Slam title victory in Melbourne on Sunday moved him to within striking distance of Nadal who was forced to retire in the quarter-finals due to injury and has lost almost 1 000 points in the last two weeks reports Efe.

Croatia s Marin Cilic who lost to Federer in the Australian Open final but had knocked out world No. 1 Nadal jumped to third place over 300 points ahead of Bulgaria s Grigor Dimitrov who fell one spot to fourth.

Meanwhile Germany s Alexander Zverev was nipping at Dimitrov s heels just 20 points behind in fifth place and was 550 points in front of Austria s Dominic Thiem.

The current ATP rankings and point scores are as follows:

1- Rafael Nadal (Spain) 9 760 points

2- Roger Federer (Switzerland) 9 605

3- Marin Cilic (Croatia) 4 960

4- Grigor Dimitrov (Bulgaria) 4 630

5- Alexander Zverev (Germany) 4 610

6- Dominic Thiem (Austria) 4 060

7- David Goffin (Belgium) 3 460

8- Jack Sock (USA) 2 880

9- Juan Martin del Porto (Argentina) 2 815

10- Pablo Carreño Busta (Spain) 2 705.

--IANS
sam/bg