By Pat Mitsch
Two months into the 2017 season, and both Ryan Harrison and Lauren Davis – Team USA’s Players of the Month for February – have shaved their 2016 year-end world rankings nearly in half.
Harrison, a native of Shreveport, La., started the year at No. 90 and was ranked No. 46 by the end of the month. He went 10-1 in February and turned in a 10-match win streak that saw him defeat countryman Taylor Fritz for the singles title at the ATP $125,000 Challenger in Dallas, then win his first ATP World Tour title at the Memphis Open 250 event, which tied him at his career-high ranking of No. 43.
Davis (pictured above), from Gates Mills, Ohio, reached two straight WTA quarterfinals in February, in Doha, Qatar, and Dubai, to continue her ascent in the rankings. After beginning the year ranked No. 61, Davis ended February at No. 37, also thanks in part to winning her first WTA title in Auckland in January.
Here are some other top performances from Team USA in February:
- Both the U.S. Davis Cup and Fed Cup teams won their respective ties:
- Jack Sock, John Isner, Sam Querrey and Steve Johnson led the Davis Cup team to a 5-0 win over Switzerland in a first-round tie in Birmingham, Ala.
- CoCo Vandeweghe went 2-0 in singles, Alison Riske went 1-0 in singles, and Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Shelby Rogers won the doubles match to lead the U.S. to a 4-0 victory over Germany in the Fed Cup quarterfinals in Maui, Hawaii.
- Sock won his second ATP title of the year in Delray Beach, Fla., after Milos Raonic withdrew from the final with an injury, and reached a new career high ranking of No. 18.
- Seventeen-year-old CiCi Bellis earned her first win over a Top 10 player in Dubai, defeating world No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska en route to reaching the quarterfinals.
- Abigail Spears won her 19th career WTA doubles title in Doha, Qatar.
- Rajeev Ram won his 11th ATP doubles title in Delray Beach, Fla.
- James Cerretani won his fourth ATP doubles title at the Ecuador Open in Quito.
- Two New York-area natives won singles titles at Challenger events in Launceston, Australia: Noah Rubin won the men’s title over compatriot Mitchell Krueger, while Jamie Loeb won the women’s crown.
- Asia Muhammad also won a Challenger-level singles title in Australia, at the $60,000 event in Burnie.
- Tommy Paul won the singles title at the USTA Pro Circuit $15,000 Men’s Futures in Palm Coast, Fla.