LONDON -- Lleyton Hewitt reached a career-high ranking No. 3 on Monday, a day after his ruthless demolition of Pete Sampras in the U.S. Open final.

Hewitt's maiden Grand Slam triumph enabled the 20-year-old from Adelaide, Australia, to take the place of 2000 U.S. Open champion Marat Safin in the ATP's Entry System rankings.

Safin, who lost to Sampras in the Open semifinals, dropped four places to seven.

Gustavo Kuerten, the 2001 French Open champion, leads the rankings, followed by Australian Open champion Andre Agassi in second place.

The Entry System rankings are based on results over a rolling 12-month period and are used to determine seedings for tournaments.

Following Hewitt at No. 4 is Patrick Rafter. Juan Carlos Ferrero, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Safin, Tim Henman, Sebastien Grosjean and Sampras round out the top 10.