Tristao tops the February National Rankings

News

This rankings update includes the results from the North West Open and the Under 25 Championships held in January and February. As always, the U25s carries fewer ranking points because it is not an Open event, but I should say that the strength of entry in this year’s event was impressive, high in both quality and in numbers. In fact it was the highest entry for both the Singles and Doubles since the event’s inception in 1988. Great news to see this, although a logistical challenge for the organiser — well done, James Smith!

Despite not participating in either event, Dan Tristao retains his top position in both the Singles and Doubles rankings.

In the Singles we see Dan Tristao, Ed Kay and Will Ellison occupying the top three places, and we need to look further down for changes. North West semi-finalist Julian Aquilina moves up to #7, while U25 finalist Tom Watkinson enters the top 10 at #8. Rob Whitehorn, who had a good win in the NW, moves into the top 20 at #18, while U25 Plate winner James Smith moves into the top 30 at #29. Lower down, other good advances are made by Joe Sumner, Dan Whitham and Jack Sissons. We also have two new entries, Harry Jackson from St Paul’s & Durham University, and Artem Naumenko from Alleyn’s & Oxford University, following good wins by both in the U25s.

Dan Tristao tops the Doubles rankings, while NW Doubles champion Will Ellison moves ahead of Ed Kay into 2nd position. Will’s partner in Manchester, Dan Grant, moves up to #4, and Ben Beltrami and Theo Parker also make progress in the top 10. Christian Blackaby moves up into the top 20 at #19 following his semi-final appearance with Ben Jourdan in the U25s. James Smith, Michael Suddaby, Raheem, and Jack Sissons all did well in the U25s and move up, with Smith & Suddaby also reaching the North West quarter-finals. We see five new entries in this update. Dave Fox and John Minta make a welcome return while Richard Guthrie and George Page (from Sedbergh) also reached the last eight of the North West Open. Finally, Bristol-based Kevin Brice joins the other new entries at #63 after winning the North West Plate with Archie McCreath.

The next rankings update will be in early May at end of season and will include the North of England Open, the National Doubles and the Scottish Open as well as the second Challenger Singles to be held in Derby at the end of March. There may well be some more significant rankings changes in store!

I announced earlier this season the plan to base future rankings on a rolling 3-year approach, rather than using results from “this season” and the previous two seasons, and I implemented this for Doubles in the September 2019 rankings update. I plan to introduce this idea for the Singles (a little more difficult) at the start of next season.

 

To see the full official rankings, just click on the link below.

Official RFA rankings (opens in separate window).

The official RFA rankings are prepared by Dave Hebden.