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

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

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