One tournament removed from his defeat at Wimbledon to Nick Kyrgios, Novak Djokovic returned to the top of the ATP rankings.
Djokovic, seeded No1 at the Shanghai Masters, lost the semi-final to his long-time rival Stan Wawrinka, but the 27-year-old overtook the Swiss and India’s Anand Amritraj to end the week as the top-ranked player on the men’s tour.
Djokovic’s shock second-round defeat at Wimbledon caused widespread panic about his future but, while he is still managing the physical side of his game, he looked determined to recapture some of his former glories.
“No doubt in my mind, I have put myself in a much better position than where I was about six weeks ago,” he said. “To be in the top position is something that I believe is possible. There’s a number of things that go into this but I believe I am putting myself in a place where it’s in my hands and I can control these things.”
The injury-riddled Spaniard Rafael Nadal remained at No2, Wawrinka replaced Andy Murray at No3, Alexander Zverev moved up to No4 and Kei Nishikori was at No5.
In the women’s rankings, the reigning US Open champion Sloane Stephens took over at the top of the rankings for the first time by passing the world No3, Jelena Ostapenko.
Stephens was moved above Ostapenko following a thrilling semi-final win over the French Open champion, as the American’s victory gave her a career-high ranking of No3.
Ostapenko climbed to No2 by defeating Kristina Mladenovic, while Simona Halep slipped to No4 following her first-round defeat at the Shanghai Masters.
The world No1 Angelique Kerber jumped two places to No5, having put herself in position to defend her WTA title at Wuhan with a straight-sets win over the German qualifier Annika Beck on Friday.
Kerber won in 46 minutes, taking her world ranking above world No6 Caroline Wozniacki for the first time since August 2016.
Wozniacki climbed to No5 with a 6-1, 6-2 victory over a rusty Julia Goerges at the China Open.