Racketlon’s February Rankings have been published with two tournaments from July 2018 dropping off the rankings.
The departure of the 2018 French Open Challenger and IWT Latvian Open has seen a major shakeup of the Top 10 in the Men’s Singles Rankings. Luka Penttinen is the biggest winner, climbing to a career-high No.4.
In the Women’s Singles rankings, Myriam Enmer has leapt over Margaux Randjbar to become the new French No.1 and World No.8. There were no tournaments held in January this year. That means that all the major changes have been because of the 2018 tournaments dropping off.
Men’s Singles: Penttinen Rises while Hougaard Falls
With over 100 players taking part in both the IWT Latvian Open and French Open Challenger, there was a major shakeup. After winning the Latvian Open, Leon Griffiths suffered a small fall. After his 2021 success, Griffiths had climbed all the way up to No.6 in the world. His loss of points from Latvia has seen him fall back down to No.8.
Also moving down the rankings is Kresten Hougaard. The Dane has fallen three spots to No.7. Luka Penttinen, Emanuel Schöpf and Rav Rykowski have all moved ahead of him. However, there is a small gap between them. In fact, there are less than 700 points between Dan Busby at No.2 and Kresten Hougaard at No.7. This should see plenty of movement between those five players in the early months of this year.
While Busby has remained at No.3, he has taken a hit to his points after finishing second at both tournaments in 2018. French Open winner Morten Jaksland remains comfortably at No.1 in the world.
Outside of the Top 10, both Mohammed Tarik Koubaa and Michal Horácek fell out of the Top 30. Otto Tennilä, who won the Men’s B in Riga, took a 20 spot tumble down to No.68, with Uldis Dzirkalis and Cédric Junillon also falling by at least 20 places.
The full Men’s Singles Rankings are available here.
Women’s Singles: Eisler Leaves Top 10 as Enmer Continues Rise
Nicole Eisler, who had previously been in the Top 10 of the World Rankings longer than any other female player, falls out as her bronze medal from the French Open falls off. That sees the Swiss No.1 land at No.12, with both Irina Olsacher and Astrid Reimer-Kern moving ahead of her.
The only other change inside the Top 10 saw French players Myriam Enmer and Margaux Randjbar change places. With no points to defend from 2018, Enmer is guaranteed to continue to rise as she becomes the new French No.1 and world No.8.
One beneficiary from the two tournaments is Martina Meißl. Her absence from the events has moved her up to No.14. Countrywoman Elisabeth Seehofer has moved to No.15 while British duo Hannah Boden and Izzy Bramhall land at No.16 and No.17 respectively. Bramhall was the French Open champion while Boden finished third at the French Open.
Paris runner-up, Anastasiya Bruzgina, was the biggest casualty of the latest rankings. The Belarus player has called down 32 spots and now sits at No.80. Great Britain’s Lindsay Farge also leaves the top 100, landing at No. 101 after a 35 spot fall.
The full Women’s Singles Rankings are available here.
Best of the Other Rankings
While there are no new number ones or changes near the top of the rankings, there has been a bit of change. France’s Anthony Duthuillé is deservedly in the Top 10 of the Men’s Doubles rankings, rising to No.9. He replaces Sweden’s René Lindberg and also moves ahead of Leon Griffiths.
In the Women’s Doubles rankings, Amke Fischer is back in the Top 10. She replaces Elisabeth Seehofer who falls down to No.11. Jo Shelley is also the new British No.1. She moves up six places to No.20 as both Bramhall and Boden fall below her.
With Mohammed Tarik Koubaa losing a handful of points, Frank Kleiber is back into the Top 10 of the Men’s Seniors rankings. Koubaa falls down to No.12 with Ray Jordan also slipping two places down to No.6.
It’s a similar story in the Men’s Seniors Doubles. Koubaa also fell down to No.12 but this time the beneficiaries were Ersoy Korer and Radu Ionescu. The Turk and the Romanian, who often play together – move up to No.9 and No.10.
The Women’s Seniors Doubles rankings saw some intriguing moves with Stine Jacobsen and Jo Shelley both rising to No.5 and No.6 respectively. Izzy Bramhall and Svetlana Kasilova were the players who took a hit, falling to No.7 and No.9.
All the Junior rankings saw minimal movement. The only change of note came in the Juniors Mixed Doubles. British players Alexandra Ogram and David Bennett swapped places, with Ogram moving to No.3 and Bennett falling to No.4.
The full list of FIR Rankings is available here.
Sam Barker / FIR Media Officer
Image Credit / Filip Rejthars
