Melbourne, Australia, 6 August 2012 | tennis.com.au

Lleyton Hewitt continues his impressive rise up the ATP World Tour ladder, jumping 25 places in this week’s rankings list.

Hewitt’s third round finish at the London 2012 Olympics – where he stretched Novak Djokovic to three sets – was enough to vault up from No.159 to No.134.

Following his defeat of the Australian, Djokovic said Hewitt “deserves to be top 20 with the game he performed today”.

And although that might sound unrealistic, in truth, a return to that elite bracket is not inconceivable.

Hewitt has no points to defend between now and the end of the season, and provided his body holds up – always a big if for the injury-prone 31-year-old – any victories will contribute to a rankings rise.

In the last month alone, the South Australian has jumped 100 ranking places, having been well outside the top 200 before his run to the final at the ATP Newport event.

Now that his attention turns to North American hardcourts ahead of the US Open – arguably his most productive surface – he is well-placed to continue his progress.

Also enjoying steady progress in the men’s rankings is Australian Open 2007 junior champion Brydan Klein, who has quietly inched into his position as the seventh-ranked Australian.

This has come following recent wins at Futures events in Turkey and Spain, and a run to the semifinals at last week’s Astana Challenger in Kazakhstan.

The Western Australian, ranked world No.460 at the beginning of 2012, now sits at No.239, climbing closer to his career-high mark of No.174 set back in June 2009.

> see where our Aussie men are ranked in the latest ATP rankings

Also making some noise on the ITF Circuit is Olivia Rogowska, who rose three places to world No.114 this week after her quarterfinal finish at the $100,000 ITF event in Vancouver, Canada. Rogowska peaked at No.111 in March this year.

The rest of Australia’s top women remained fairly steady in this week’s rankings, with Sam Stosur continuing to sit at world No.5 and remain Australia’s highest-ranked tennis player.

> see where our Aussie women are ranked in the latest WTA rankings