Q’town player into top 200

Queenstown doubles expert Ben McLachlan has made it into the top 200 in the world.

The 24-year-old has climbed to 200 in the world doubles rankings, a career best. It has been a rapid rise for McLachlan, who was sitting at 407 at the end of last year. The swift promotion for McLachlan came about from playing better opposition and in higher tier tournaments. He is now eyeing a place at New Zealand’s major professional tournament.

Having spent a lot of time playing on the International Tennis Futures tour, he was promoted to the ATP Challengers tour in July. That has seen a dramatic boost in competition. The majority of his opponents have been ranked about  150-200 in the world and some as high as the top 70.

"He loves [playing on the challengers tour]. He just said it’s a different level of professionalism from the players and all the way to the tournaments and how they treat you," coach and brother Riki McLachlan said.

"A lot of them have housing and hotels, just the standard of the tournaments are so much higher. It’s great to practise with all the players at that level and just a lot more enjoyable to be on tour."

McLachlan was in the United States at present, having recently played in the Las Vegas Open where he made the quarterfinals. There he faced his highest ranked opponent to date, 63rd-ranked Australian Sam Groth, alongside 143rd-ranked Canadian Peter Polansky. Before that, he had made the final at the Monterey Open in Mexico. He has had several doubles partners, although Australian Jarryd Chaplin and American Mackenzie McDonald have been the most regular ones. The matches were all streamed online, allowing Riki, who is one year older than his brother, to watch his brother and offer feedback.

"That’s  definitely a huge advantage of playing Challengers. With the amount of money they’re making, not many players can afford to have a coach on tour, so it is nice when you can have some people watching matches and giving you feedback."

McLachlan would play in the United States for another four weeks, before returning to New Zealand at the end of November. There he would work with Riki and fellow coach Lan Bale as he prepared to play in the New Zealand Championships. From there he had bigger goal of trying to earn a wildcard spot at the ASB Classic in January.

"He’s had a good year," Riki said.

"Especially the past three or four months have been good for him. But he’s still not satisfied. He’s still got bigger goals. I’d say he’s happy, but not satisfied."

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