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Wawrinka climbs to No. 3 in men's tennis rankings

Stanislas Wawrinka, shown at the 2013 French Open, has moved to No. 3 in the ATP world rankings in the wake of winning the championship Sunday at the Australian Open. UPI/David Silpa
Stanislas Wawrinka, shown at the 2013 French Open, has moved to No. 3 in the ATP world rankings in the wake of winning the championship Sunday at the Australian Open. UPI/David Silpa | License Photo

LONDON, Jan. 27 (UPI) -- Stanislas Wawrinka, who beat the two top-ranked players in claiming the Australian Open title, jumped five places to world No. 3 Monday.

Wawrinka had never been ranked higher than eighth before this week. He beat No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic in five sets in the quarterfinals and took out seventh-seeded Tomas Berdych in the semis before posting a 6-3, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 win over world No. 1 Rafael Nadal in Sunday's final.

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It was the first Grand Slam title for Wawrinka, who hadn't reached a major tournament semifinal until last year's U.S. Open. Before that he had three quarterfinals appearances in his first 34 major tournaments.

He and Juan Martin del Potro, who improves one spot to fourth in the rankings this week, are the only players not named Nadal, Djokovic, Roger Federer or Andy Murray to have won a men's single Grand Slam title since the 2005 French Open. Nadal and Federer both have 13 titles, Djokovic six -- including the Australian Open 2011-13 -- and Murray two. Those four won 34 of the 36 majors in that span.

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Wawrinka's jump of five spots this week put him ahead of Federer in the rankings. It is the first time Federer hasn't been the top-ranked Swiss player since 2001. Federer, despite beating two Top 10 players in Melbourne, falls two places to eighth in the rankings. It's his lowest ranking since Oct. 28, 2002.

David Ferrer and Murray also slip two spots this week, coming in at fifth and sixth, respectively.

The only men's player not in the Top 10 to make the quarterfinals in Melbourne this year was Grigor Dimitrov. The finish was enough to move him from 22nd to 19th in the rankings, his first ranking inside the Top 20.

Nadal sees his points lead over Djokovic for No. 1 increase to 3,710 points. Nadal has been atop the rankings the last 17 weeks and 119 weeks overall.

There are no ATP tournaments this week as the tour takes a break to get in the first round of the 2014 Davis Cup. Eight best-of-five series are scheduled for Friday-Sunday around the world. The Czech Republic won the competiton in 2012 and 2013.

The ATP Top 10, listing player's name, home country and rankings points:

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1 Rafael Nadal, Spain, 14,330

2. Novak Djokovic, Serbia, 10,620

3. Stanislas Wawrinka, Switzerland, 5,710

4. Juan Martin del Potro, Argentina, 5,370

5. David Ferrer, Spain, 5,280

6. Andy Murray, Great Britain, 4,720

7. Tomas Berdych, Czech Republic, 4,540

8. Roger Federer, Switzerland, 4,355

9. Richard Gasquet, France, 3,050

10. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, France, 2,885

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