Egyptian Mohamed Safwat claimed his second ITF title of the season, triumphing in the $25k Futures event in Cornaiano, and is expected climb some 30 spots in the rankings when the new list is released next Monday.
Since reaching the last 16 as a qualifier at the ATP event in Antalya in June, Safwat, 26, has not had the best results on the Challenger circuit, but his success in Italy last week will see him rise to around 220 in the rankings to resurrect his hopes of ending the season in the top-200.
His compatriot, the 19-year-old Youssef Hossam is enjoying a career-high ranking of 369 this week after capturing three ITF titles in four weeks. Hossam, a former top-10 junior player, has spent stints training at the Mouratoglou Academy in France, and has the potential to become the first Egyptian to crack the top-100 since Ismail El Shafei in the 1970s.
Karim Mohamed-Maamoun is up to 276 in the rankings after reaching the last 16 at the Open Castilla Leon in Segovia earlier this month.
Tunisian world No. 77 Malek Jaziri lost his opener in the Aptos Challenger before falling to Mitchell Krueger in the Cincinnati Masters qualifying first round.
Oman’s Fatma Al Nabhani made the semis in the $15k in Gran Canaria last week, where she also reached the final in doubles.
Ons Jabeur is back in action for the first time since bowing out of the Wimbledon first round to Svetlana Kuznetsova. The Tunisian is the No. 4 seed at the $100k in Vancouver and will commence her campaign against a qualifier.
Mohamed-Maamoun is playing the Challenger event in Meerbusch, Germany, where he opens against Belgium’s Yannick Mertens.
Al Nabhani is in action in Gran Canaria once again, where she will be hoping to maintain her position in the top-500.
