Russian tennis player Nikolay Davydenko has returned to the world top 50 in the latest ATP rankings published Sunday after he reached the semifinal of the 400,000-euro clay court Nice Open.
The four-time Grand Slam semifinalist is now ranked 47th after gaining six places.
Davydenko was knocked out by doubles specialist Brian Baker of the United States, who lost in the final to Nicolas Almagro of Spain.
Almagro's success who moved from 14 to 13th, taking over the French Gael Monfis.
There was no movement for the Russian men's No. 1 and No. 2, Mikhail Youzhny and Alex Bogomolov Jr., who retain the 30th and 46th spots respectively.
In women's WTA rankings, Russia's Maria Sharapova retained the second spot, as the top ten was unchanged, while Vera Zvonareva held stead at 11th.
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova dropped one place to 24th after crashing out in the first round of the $637,000 clay-court Brussels Masters with a straight-sets loss to Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa.
Italy's Francesca Schiavone rose two places to 12th after winning the $220,000 clay-court Strasbourg Masters, beating France's then-world No. 83 in rankings Alize Cornet in straight sets.
Schiavone's rise dropped both Sabine Lisicki and Ana Ivanovic down a place, to 13th and 14th respectively.
Cornet gained 17 places after reaching the final and is now 66th.
