Lowest-ranked tennis player to win an ATP Tour title

Marin Čilić (Croatia; b. Bosnia and Herzegovina) was 777th in the ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) world rankings at the start of the 2024 Hangzhou Open in China, but the 2014 US Open champion and former world No.3 went on to hold aloft the winner’s trophy at the inaugural ATP 250 tournament on 24 September, four days before his 36th birthday, after a week in which he beat three of the draw’s top 10 seeds. Čilić, on the comeback trail after an injury-ravaged 2023–24, saw his world ranking surge to 212 when he defeated home favourite Zhang Zhizhen 7–6, 7–6 in the final at the Hangzhou Olympic Sports Center.

The previous lowest-ranked winner on the ATP Tour was Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt, 16, who won the first of his 30 ATP Tour titles at the Adelaide International on 12 January 1998, as the world No.550.

Čilić’s victory in Hangzhou marked the 16th hard-court title of his career, and 21st overall, since he turned pro in 2005.