WTA RANKINGS UPDATE: Iga Swiatek takes over, Osaka back on track - UBITENNIS

WTA RANKINGS UPDATE: Iga Swiatek takes over, Osaka back on track

There has been a lot of significant changes in the rankings over recent days.

By Adam Addicott
9 Min Read
https://twitter.com/WTA_insider/status/1509341900418912257/photo/1

Written by Claudio Gilardelli, translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye

As it has been very often headlined, this week Iga Swiatek makes her debut as No. 1, following Ashleigh Barty’s shock retirement.

Compared with other players who have been No. 2 in the last two months (Krejcikova, Sabalenka), Swiatek is really worthy to bear Barty’s legacy. First of all she reaches No.1 after accomplishing the Sunshine Double, a feat which, in women’s tennis, had only been achieved by Steffi Graf (twice, in 1994 and 1996), Kim Clijsters (2005) and Vika Azarenka (2016). Besides, her victory in Miami is her third WTA 1000 in a row and she’s on a 17-match winning streak. 

Swiatek won Miami without dropping a set and cruising past her opponents with three bagel sets, one in the final against Naomi Osaka. She has definitely not been overwhelmed by the increased pressure from the media owing to her new status. She also consolidates her lead in the RACE, where she had already overtaken Barty last week. The Australian was the title holder in Indian Wells and she would have dropped 1000 points and gone down to 6980 points. The gap with Swiatek would have shrunk to 269 points only and sooner or later the baton was due to be passed over. Swiatek is the 28th player to secure top spot, and the first Pole ever. Former Polish star Agnieszka Radwaska peaked at a high of No. 2.   

WTA Rank+/-PlayerTournaments PlayedPoints
1+1Iga Swiatek166711
2+2Barbora Krejcikova254975
3+3Paula Badosa304970
4-1Maria Sakkari184705
50Aryna Sabalenka194657
6+1Anett Kontaveit214511
7+1Karolina Pliskova154197
8+3Danielle Collins173151
90Garbiñe Muguruza193070
100Ons Jabeur192975
11+1Jelena Ostapenko202805
12+1Emma Raducanu212706
13+8Jessica Pegula192485
140Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova122473
15+2Coco Gauff212345
16-1Angelique Kerber152297
17-1Victoria Azarenka162281
180Elena Rybakina242261
19+3Leylah Fernandez252156
20-1Simona Halep182156
21+7Belinda Bencic202151
22+1Veronika Kudermetova232090
23+2Tamara Zidansek211921
24+2Madison Keys191904
25-1Elise Mertens221840
26+1Sorana Cirstea231840
27-7Elina Svitolina221836
28+1Daria Kasatkina221770
29+3Petra Kvitova211690
30+1Camila Giorgi191603
31-1Liudmila Samsonova291547
32+1Marketa Vondrousova201457
33+1Camila Osorio311334
34+2Alizé Cornet261315
35+42Naomi Osaka111296
36+2Sloane Stephens161282
370Jil Teichmann231277
38+2Clara Tauson311249
390Ajla Tomljanovic231231
40+2Viktorija Golubic281211
41+2Shuai Zhang361210
42+9Anhelina Kalinina391208
43+7Alison Riske241201
44+4Shelby Rogers281184
45+8Katerina Siniakova211166
46+1Yulia Putintseva231166
47-6Amanda Anisimova201165
48-3Jasmine Paolini311159
49-14Sara Sorribes Tormo231135
50-4Tereza Martincova311128


In the top50, we can notice that:

  • Ashleigh Barty’s retirement has really had an impact on the top10. We have already given due credit to Iga Swiatek. Barbora Krejcikova moves back to second place, Paula Badosa (+3, No.3) reaches her career best, Maria Sakkari (semi-finalist at Miami in 2021) slips to No.4, Anett Kontaveit (No.6) and Karolina Pliskova (No.7) go up one position. Danielle Collins gains three spots and for the first time in her career joins the top10 at No.8.
  • In the top20 Jelena Ostapenko (+1, No.11) is just 170 points short of the top10. There are best rankings for Cori Gauff (+2, No.15) and Jessica Pegula (+8, No.13), who returns in the top20, just like Leylah Fernandez (+3, No.19). Elina Svitolina, who reached the semifinals in Florida last year, drops out of the top20 (-7, n.27) after recently announcing she will take a break from tennis.
  • The most significant movers in the top50 are Belinda Bencic (+7, No.21), who edges back close to the top20, after her semi-final in Miami. The great news is that Naomi Osaka is back on track again with her run to the final in Miami and takes a 42-position bound, landing at No.35. Also Anhelina Kalinina (+9, No.42) and Katerina Siniakova (+8, No.45), are back in the top50. Alison Riske (No..43) gains 7 places. However, there is a downtrend for Sara Sorribes Tormo (-14, No.49), who drops the points she earned in Miami last year thanks to her quarterfinal and for Amanda Anisimova (-6, No.47). Both are on the brink and risk losing the top50. 
  • Below the top50, several players have made consistent progress: Aliaksandra Sasnovich (+9, No.51), Mayar Sherif (+12, No.61), Karolina Muchova (+7, No.67), Anna Kalinskaya (+8, No.76), Marie Bouzkova (+9, No.77), Lauren Davis (+12, No.82), Dalma Galfi (+10, No.97), and Lucia Bronzetti (+17, No.85). 
  • Ana Konjuh is struggling (-10, No.62) but Anastasija Sevastova (-29, No.114) and Bianca Andreescu (-75, No.119), semi-finalist and finalist respectively in Miami Open 2021 have fallen out of the top 100. 
  • Beyond the top100 we see remarkable move up by Daria Saville, who climbs to No.129, gaining 120 positions and Linda Fruhvirtova, who breaks into the top 200 at No.188, gaining 91 positions.

NEXT GEN RANKING

For the first time the Ranking dedicated to the players born after 1st January 2002 features Olivia Gadecki, who takes the place of 16-year-old Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva. The young Australian debuts at No.9. The top ranks are unchanged: Emma Raducanu is No.1, followed by Cori Gauff and Leylah Fernandez.

Position+/-PlayerYOBWTA Rank
10Emma Raducanu200212
20Cori Gauff200415
30Leylah Fernandez200219
40Clara Tauson200238
50Marta Kostyuk200253
60Qinwen Zheng200272
70Diane Parry200298
80Daria Snigur2002139
9Olivia Gadecki2002167
10-1Elina Avanesyan2002170

RACE

Iga Swiatek leads the Race as well and has 2310 points more than the second ranked player, Maria Sakkari. Danielle Collins (No.3) moves up 3 positions and Jessica Pegula (No.9) gains 6. Naomi Osaka (+37, No.11), Belinda Bencic (+23, n.14) and Petra Kvitova (+10, n.20) burst into the top20. 

Position+/-PlayerTournaments Played   Points
10Iga Swiatek63920
2+1Maria Sakkari61610
3+3Danielle Collins41516
4+3Paula Badosa71422
5-1Anett Kontaveit61385
6-1Madison Keys71317
7+1Jelena Ostapenko71156
8+1Simona Halep61096
9+6Jessica Pegula7992
10+1Veronika Kudermetova7952
11+37Naomi Osaka4925
12-2Barbora Krejcikova6895
13-1Elena Rybakina7766
14+23Belinda Bencic6671
15-2Sorana Cirstea8626
16-2Amanda Anisimova6626
17-1Daria Kasatkina7606
180Kaia Kanepi4590
19-2Elise Mertens7576
20+10Petra Kvitova8561
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