WTA Rankings: How many points will Sabalenka, Swiatek, Rybakina, Anisimova, Gauff drop in February?
The second month of the 2026 WTA Tour season is underway and some players have a lot of points to defend at the two big events, namely the Qatar Open and the Dubai Tennis Championship.
As has become tradition, most players in the top 10 have opted to take a longer break after the Australian Open and are not featuring in this week’s events in Abu Dhabi, Ostrava and Cluj-Napoca.
Instead, they will return to action at the first WTA 1000 event of the season, the Qatar Open that runs from February 9-15, before heading to the United Arab Emirates the following week to complete the Middle East swing.
With back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments, there will be a lot of points on offer and those who performed well last year will naturally need to reach the business end of the two events to avoid big drops.
WTA Rankings Top 10
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,990 points
2. Iga Swiatek – 7,978
3. Elena Rybakina – 7,610
4. Amanda Anisimova – 6,680
5. Coco Gauff – 6,423
6. Jessica Pegula – 6,103
7. Mirra Andreeva – 4,731
8. Jasmine Paolini- 4,267
9. Belinda Bencic – 3,342
10. Elina Svitolina – 3,205
The WTA Rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system so the points you earned 12 months ago drop at the start of the tournament and then you have a chance to regain those points again with every win.
WTA News
Qatar Open withdrawal list grows as two Grand Slam winners pull out
Example: If player A reached the semi-final in Doha in 2025, she would have earned 390 points, but those points are then removed in the Live Rankings at the start of the 2026 event. If she goes on to reach the quarter-final, she will earn 215 points, but she will be -175 in the rankings at the end of the tournament.
Top 10 Points To Defend
Aryna Sabalenka – 120 points
The world No 1 is in a good position as she will only drop 120 points from her run to the third round in Dubai last year.
Although she also featured in Doha last year, she lost in the second round and the 10 points she earned are non-countable [The WTA uses a maximum of 18 tournaments for the rankings or 19 if a player qualifies for the WTA Finals].
It means Sabalenka will remain at No 1 in the rankings after the Middle East swing even if she falls early at both events.
Iga Swiatek – 605
The six-time Grand Slam winner is facing an uphill task to stay at No 2 in the rankings as Elena Rybakina has closed the gap on the back of her Australian Open title run.
Swiatek reached the semi-finals in Qatar (390) and the quarter-finals in Dubai (215) a year ago.
Elena Rybakina – 800
But there is a bit of good news for Swiatek as Rybakina has more points to defend.
The two-time Grand Slam winner played in Abu Dhabi last year and reached the last four (195) while she was also a quarter-finalist in Doha (215) and a semi-finalist in Dubai (390).
Amanda Anisimova – 1,000
Anisimova has replaced Gauff as the American No 1, but she faces an uphill task to keep that position as she has the small matter of being the defending champion in Doha so she will drop 1,000 points there.
The 24-year-old followed up her Qatar Open title with a loss in the second round of the Dubai event 12 months ago, but those 10 points are part of her non-countable events.
Coco Gauff – 20
Gauff had a shocking Middle East swing in 2025 as she lost in the second round of both tournaments and will drop only 10 points, but she will automatically earn that back as the seeded players receive byes into the second round so they earn a minimum of 10 points.
Jessica Pegula – 335
The American has already confirmed she won’t play in Qatar so she will drop 215 points as she reached the quarter-final last year while she also has 120 points to defend in Dubai.
Mirra Andreeva – 1,065
The teenager won her maiden WTA 1000 title in Dubai last year so that is 1,000 points, while she lost in the round of 32 (65 points) in Doha.
Jasmine Paolini – 240
The Italian reached the last 16 of both WTA 1000 tournaments last year so there is an opportunity to make inroads in the rankings with deeper runs.
Belinda Bencic – 565
The Swiss is currently in action at the Abu Dhabi Open where she is the defending champion, which is worth 500 points while she didn’t play in Qatar last year. Bencic then lost in the second round in Dubai.
Elina Svitolina – 130
Former world No 3 Svitolina is another player who has an opportunity waving as she lost in the round of 32 in Qatar and Dubai 12 months ago.
Selected Others
Linda Noskova – 530
The Czech reached the semi-final in Abu Dhabi (195), the round of 16 in Doha (120) and the quarter-final in Dubai (215).
Victoria Mboko – 35
The Canadian teenager is in a good position to rise up the rankings during the Middle East swing as she didn’t play last year, as she was competing on the WTA Challenger/ITF Future events.
Mboko, currently at No 13 in the rankings, won the Manchester WTT W35 12 months ago and that was worth 35 points.
