WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka chips away at Iga Swiatek’s lead as Emma Raducanu exits top 100
Iga Swiatek still has a commanding lead at the top of the WTA Rankings as she started a 57th consecutive week at No 1, but Aryna Sabalenka is gradually closing the gap.
It was a win-win for Swiatek and Sabalenka at the Madrid Open last week as the former didn’t have any points to defend as she missed last year’s tournament while Sabalenka won the title and added a healthy tally to her total.
The Pole started the Madrid Open on 8,975 points and her runners-up finish saw her move to 9,625 – a solid 1,744-point lead over Sabalenka.
The Belarusian, meanwhile, followed up last year’s first-round exit in Madrid with a title run and as a result she is now on 7,881 points.
There will be extra pressure on both at the Italian Open over the next fortnight as Swiatek is defending 1,000 points after winning the title last year while Sabalenka reached the semi-final.
Swiatek, though, is now in her 57th week consecutive at the top and just seven weeks behind Simona Halep in terms of total weeks spent at No 1 in the WTA Rankings as the Romanian is on 64 weeks.
If things go according to plan, then the 21-year-old could enter the top 10 in the coming months as Caroline Wozniacki is on 71 weeks at No 10.
Further down the current list, there is one change in the top five as Ons Jabeur’s failure to defend her Madrid Open title saw her drop to No 7 with Coco Gauff now at No 5 and Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina at a career-best No 6.
And even further down the top-20 list Italian Martina Trevisa has reached a career-high of No 18 following her run to the last 16 in the Spanish capital.
Meanwhile, Emma Raducanu has officially dropped out of the top 100 as the 2021 US Open champion is now at No 103 as she dropped 18 places after missing the WTA 1000 Madrid Open.
The 20-year-old, who is still the British No 1 as Jodie Burrage is at No 106, is set for a much bigger drop over the coming weeks as she will miss the French Open and the entire grass-court season after undergoing surgery.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Iga Swiatek Poland 9,625 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 7,881
3. Jessica Pegula United States 5,300
4. Caroline Garcia France 5,025
5. Coco Gauff United States 4,345
6. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan 4,195
7. Ons Jabeur Tunisia 4,166
8. Maria Sakkari Greece 3,516
9. Daria Kasatkina – 3,505
10. Petra Kvitova Czech Republic 3,162
11. Belinda Bencic Switzerland 2,750
12. Veronika Kudermetova – 2,660
13. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic 2,616
14. Karolina Pliskova Czech Republic 2,245
15. Beatriz Haddad Maia Brazil 2,206
16. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,172
17. Victoria Azarenka – 2,127
18. Martina Trevisa Italy 1,878
19. Magda Linette Poland 1,820
20. Jelena Ostapenko Latvia 1,795
The article WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka chips away at Iga Swiatek’s lead as Emma Raducanu exits top 100 appeared first on Tennis365.com.
