Taiwanese tennis player Lu Yen-hsun has achieved the highest ranking of his career after picking up valuable points in this past week's Shanghai Masters in China, according to the latest weekly rankings issued by the Association of Tennis Professionals ( ATP) Monday.
After climbing to No. 39 in the world, edging past his previous best of 40th in mid-August, Lu expressed his excitement over his latest milestone on his official website and said he hopes to crack the world's top 20 or 30 in the future.
Lu was able to move up in the rankings after earning 45 ranking points this past week for reaching the second round of the 2010 Shanghai Masters. He defeated Chinese qualifier Wu Di in straight sets before falling to Italian Andreas Seppi in the second round.
Dirk Hordorff, Lu's coach and overseas agent, said cracking the top 40 is not easy for any Asian player, and he attributed the 27-year-old's success to his fighting spirit and his capacity for hard work.
Lu is entered this week in a second-tier ATP Challenger event in Seoul, where he will be the top seed.
His first round opponent is Korean Chung Hong, and if he takes care of the Korean as he is favored to do, he could face compatriot Yang Tsung-hua in the second round.
