Kyle Edmund: At No 148 is the third highest-ranked Brit in the ATP singles list
British men Andy Murray and Kyle Edmund have enjoyed significant improvements in their world rankings.
While Murray has moved two places up to fourth, 20-year-old Edmund has broken into the world's top 150 for the first time in his career.
Murray, who was beaten in the final of the Australian Open on Sunday, has risen from 12th to his new position in less than five months thanks to an excellent run of form that has seen him win three ATP Tour titles since September.
And by moving into the top four, he will now avoid facing the top two players in the list – Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer – before the semi-final stage of any tournament.
Much further down the list, Yorkshire’s Edmund is now 148th after winning his first Challenger Tour title in Hong Kong over the weekend when he beat world No 89 Tatsuma Ito of Japan in the final to improve his position by 44 places.
This time last year he was not even in the top 300 but he still trails British No 2 James Ward by 46 positions.
Edmund said after his win: "Ito is very experienced and I knew I had to take it to him and play my own game. Luckily, this was the best I played all week and it was ideal that it came in the final."
Davis Cup
Edmund's form has also furthered his claim to be named in Britain's Davis Cup team for next month's World Group tie against the United States in Glasgow.
Djokovic is now 3,800 points clear at the top the ATP world rankings, while Stan Wawrinka has dropped from fourth to ninth despite his semi-final appearance in Melbourne.
There has been no change in the top four on the women’s list with Serena Williams ahead of Maria Sharapova, Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova.
Serena's older sister Venus – a former world No 1 – has leapt seven spots up the list to 11th while a third American, Madison Keys, gained 15 places to break into the top 20 for the first time in her career.
Keys, a surprise semi-finalist in Australia, is now 20th in the list while Heather Watson at No 38 is the only British female in the top 140.
Laura Robson, who has not played competitively for more than a year because of injury, no longer has a ranking due to lack of activity.