Cairns, 3 September 2012 | tennis.com.au

The world rankings of rising stars Luke Saville and Sacha Jones are set to climb this week after they won the men’s and women’s singles titles respectively at the 2012 Cairns Tennis International on Sunday.

Eighteen-year-old Saville won his second professional career title and his first on Australian soil, dismissing No.1 seed and fellow Australian Michael Look in the final.

The junior Grand Slam champion took the first set comfortably before Look fought back to break his opponent’s serve early in the second. It continued to be a tussle, Look creating a number of break-point opportunities but unable to take advantage with the match eventually closed out in a tiebreaker 6-1 7-6(3).

“I played a great match. Michael is a quality player, the No.1 seed and No.350 in the world so I knew it was going to be a tough one. I came out firing and was able to win a great match,” said Saville.

The win is expected to boost Saville’s ATP ranking, taking him from 539 to around the 440 mark. And with minimal ATP ranking points to defend for the remainder of the year Saville has a great opportunity to move inside the top 300 with some strong results in upcoming Australian Pro Tour events.

“I could be in New York this week playing the US Open Juniors but myself, my coaches and support team believe playing Futures and building my ATP ranking is the way to go at the moment, so I’m playing the next seven Australian Future events,” continued Saville.

It’s a similar story for 21-year-old Jones who continued her good form in yesterday’s final to dominate from the outset and defeat Hong Kong’s Ling Zhang in straight sets 6-0 6-2.

The win is Jones’ second ITF title for 2012 and her ninth career title. Her world ranking is also set to improve, taking her from 174 to approximately 168.

“It was a really tough match. Ling was a quality opponent who I’ve played many times in the past and we’ve always had tough battles against each other,” said Jones.

“I was really happy to get the win and was happy that I played the way I intended to from the start.”

Jones felt she came into the tournament physically and mentally strong to do well this week and she showed that, dropping just five games for the tournament.

“I knew from the beginning that I had to be on top of my game. I had a tough first-round opponent and I felt quite mentally and physically prepared for that and I was able to carry that form throughout the week and work on what I knew I needed to work on,” added Jones.

The doubles event saw Adam Feeney and Nick Lindahl win their first title together after defeating Jay Andrijic and Andrew Whittington 6-3 7-5.

Monique Adamczak teamed up with France’s Victoria Larriere to take the women’s doubles title over Tyra Calderwood and Tammi Patterson 6-2 1-6 [10-5].

Australian Pro Tour action continues this week, in the Northern Territory for the men, with the Alice Springs Tennis International, and in Queensland for the women at the Rockhampton Tennis International.

> View Alice Springs Tennis International details

> View Rockhampton Tennis International details