Melzer, Fish set personal rankings records

LONDON, April 18 (UPI) -- Fernando Verdasco's drop of four spots in the men's tennis world rankings shoved Jurgen Melzer and Mardy Fish to career-best rankings.

Verdasco was a finalist -- losing to Rafael Nadal -- at the ATP Masters tournament in Monte Carlo last year but went out in the second round in 2011. The net result of a loss of 590 rankings points caused Verdasco to go from eighth to 12 in the rankings, which were updated Monday.

Four players each moved up one spot with Melzer, with 2,975 points, taking over the No. 8 spot. Gael Monfils (2,600) is ninth and Fish (2,401) is 10th. Nicolas Almagro (2,395) is a tight 11th and Verdasco (2,370) is now 12th.

Melzer and Fish both set personal bests with their new rankings while Monfils and Almagro tied their previous highs.

Nadal, with 12,870 points, has been No. 1 the last 47 weeks and next week will tie Roger Federer for the 12th-longest such string. (Federer also has a record 237-week turn at No. 1.) Nadal's 93 total weeks at No. 1 is the eighth most, with Andre Agassi's 101-week total next.

Novak Djokovic is second with 9,640 points and Federer is third at 8,550. Andy Murray has 5,905 points and is fourth with Robin Soderling (5,420) in fifth. David Ferrer (4,840) remains sixth and Tomas Berdych (3,900) holds onto the No. 7 spot.