Pe'er set to move up to No. 15

Pe'er lost to eventual winner Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open.

By ALLON SINAI, AP
shahar peer 298.88 (photo credit: AP)
shahar peer 298.88
(photo credit: AP)
Shahar Pe'er will equal Anna Smashnova's record ranking of 15 on Monday when the new WTA rankings are officially announced. Pe'er, who lost to eventual winner Serena Williams in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, joined Shlomo Glickstein and Amos Mansdorf as the only Israeli singles players ever to reach the last eight of a Grand Slam tournament and at the current rate is on pace to break every record in the Israeli tennis book. Pe'er is competing at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo this week and a good performance will see her climb even further in the rankings and set a new high for an Israeli player. Williams and men's runner-up Fernando Gonzalez were the biggest movers in their respective WTA and ATP rankings after the first Grand Slam of the year. Williams, who came to Australia ranked No. 81, made the biggest jump, going to No. 14 after she beat Maria Sharapova 6-1, 6-2 at Rod Laver Arena in Saturday's final. The rankings were to be officially announced Monday. Sharapova's consolation prize is moving to No. 1, a ranking she first attained in August 2005. When Sharapova advanced to the fourth round here, she displaced Justine Henin, who did not compete at the Australian Open after withdrawing for personal reasons - she and her husband have separated. Amelie Mauresmo, the defending Australian Open champion who was beaten by Lucie Safarova in the fourth round here, remains at No. 3, followed by Australian Open semifinalist Kim Clijsters, who is set to retire after this season. In projections released by the WTA Tour, Clijsters moved up one spot and swaps with 2004 US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, who lost to Pe'er in the fourth round in Melbourne and now is No. 5. Martina Hingis, beaten by Clijsters in the quarterfinals here, moved to No. 6 from No. 7, displacing Nadia Petrova, who was beaten in the third round by Williams. On the men's side, Gonzalez, who lost 7-6(2), 6-4, 6-4 Sunday to Roger Federer, has jumped five places to No. 5 after his celebrated run to his first Grand Slam final, according to ATP projections. The men's rankings will also not become official until Monday. Gonzalez had wins over former No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt, Masters Cup finalist James Blake and French Open champion Rafael Nadal. The Chilean player's previous best ranking was No. 7. "It's really big for me, I know that I can go forward," Gonzalez said. "This tournament was really important for me, not only in the numbers, but in my game." Federer continued his lengthy run atop the rankings, staying at No. 1 for his 156th straight week. He has occupied the top ranking since February 2, 2004. He is already guaranteed of breaking Jimmy Connors's tour record of 160 consecutive weeks at No. 1 on February 26. Nadal remains at No. 2, Russia's Nikolay Davydenko at three and Australian Open semifinalist Andy Roddick of the United States moves up two places to No. 4.