ATP Rankings: India's Prajnesh Gunneswaran rises to career-best 84th position

Prajnesh made it to the third round of the Indian Wells before slumping to a 3-6, 6-7 (3-7) defeat at the hands of Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in a thrilling last-32 clash of the tournament.

Image Courtesy: PTI

Indian tennis ace Prajnesh Gunneswaran has reaped rewards for his breakthrough run at the BNP Paribas Open as he climbed up by 13 places to achieve his career-best 84th position in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings.

The 29-year-old, who enjoyed a terrific 2018 season, made it to the third round of the Indian Wells before slumping to a 3-6, 6-7 (3-7) defeat at the hands of Croatia's Ivo Karlovic in a thrilling last-32 clash of the tournament.

Notably, it was Prajnesh's first-ever appearance in an ATP event and his decent performance in the tournament saw him gain 61 ranking points.

However, Prajnesh's fellow countryman Yuki Bhambri suffered a major blow as he crashed out of the top-200 in the men's ranking for the first time in almost two years. 

Bhambri, who is currently recovering from a knee injury, slipped by 36 places to stand at the 207th spot in the updated rankings. 

While Ramkumar Ramanathan and Saketh Myneni saw a drip in their rankings to settle for 139th and 251st spots respectively,  Sasi Kumar Mukund attained career-best rankings of 268. 

Meanwhile, Ankita Raina continued to remain India's top-ranked player in the Women Tennis Association (WTA) rankings. However, she dropped two spots to grab 168th position while Karman Thandi surged up by seven places to reach 203.

In the men's doubles rankings, veteran tennis star Leander Peas jumped two spots to reach 94th spot. The Indian duo of Rohan Bopanna and Divij Sharan stand at 36th and 41st spot, respectively.