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LONDON, Jan. 13 (UPI) -- Juan Martin del Potro, who won last week's ATP tournament in Sydney, pulled closer to his stated goal of reaching the top three in the ATP world rankings Del Potro is ranked No. 5 in the world but set a goal of cracking the Top 3, which would improve his previous best ranking of No. 4, reached in January 2010.
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His win at the Apia International Sydney on Saturday was his 18th ATP championship. It narrowed the point differential between del Potro and No. 3 David Ferrer with Andy Murray in between in fourth.
Del Potro, who was 545 points out of third last week, is just 225 points back of Ferrer and 145 behind Murray. Del Potro was ousted in the third round of the Australian Open in 2013. Murray was a finalist last year and Ferrer lost to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals in Melbourne, so they have to protect more points. That could provide an opening for del Potro to make up additional rankings ground.
There were no changes in the ATP Top 10 as the year's first tennis major opened Monday.
Rafael Nadal is ranked No. 1 and will be for the foreseeable future. Djokovic, whose 2013 Australian Open title was among three Grand Slam finals he played in last year, is solidly in second.
Del Potro defeated defending champion Bernard Tomic -- who draws Nadal in the first round at the Australian Open -- in the Apia International final. That dropped Tomic five spots in the rankings to 57th.
John Isner won the Heineken Open and improves one place to 13th in the rankings. His finals opponent Lu Yen-Hsun goes from No. 61 to 53rd.
The ATP Top 10, listing player's name, home country and rankings points:
1. Rafael Nadal, Spain, 13,130
2. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 12,260
3. David Ferrer, Spain, 5,640
4. Andy Murray, Great Britain, 5,560
5. Juan Martin Del Potro, Argentina, 5,415
6. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 4,355
7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,180
8. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, 3,890
9. Richard Gasquet, France, 3,140
10. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 3,065
