WTA Rankings: What Amanda Anisimova’s Brisbane loss means for her and Coco Gauff

Oli Dickson Jefford 08 Jan 2026 5:30 PM

Pictured L-R: Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff.

US WTA Tour stars Amanda Anisimova and Coco Gauff.

The rise of Amanda Anisimova was one of the biggest talking points of 2025, but the American ace has had a far from ideal start to 2026.

Anisimova was shocked 6-4, 6-3 by Marta Kostyuk in her second match at the Brisbane International on Thursday, with the second seed’s defeat opening up the bottom half of the draw at the WTA 500 event.

And, her loss to Kostyuk also has implications for herself and compatriot Coco Gauff in the WTA Rankings.

Official WTA Rankings

Heading into action this week, Anisimova had overtaken Gauff in the WTA Rankings to become the US No 1 for the first time in her career.

With Gauff’s 2025 United Cup points coming off her ranking, she officially holds 6,273 points — just behind Anisimova, who moved to a new career-high of world No 3, on 6,287 points.

Anisimova had zero points dropping off her WTA Ranking this week, and had the chance to earn up to a maximum of 500 ranking points in Brisbane, where she was the second seed.

Gauff is also in action at the United Cup this week and, much like in 2025, ranking points are on offer for everyone involved.

However, the points available are dependent on the ranking of your opponent and the stage of the tournament your team reaches, making things a little more difficult to predict.

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As it stands

Anisimova was hugely impressive in a 6-1, 6-3 victory over Kimberly Birrell on Wednesday, though her loss to Kostyuk in round three on Thursday brings her campaign at the WTA 500 event to an end.

And, that means that Gauff will move back up to world No 3 — and regain her status as the US No 1 — next Monday.

Gauff was already provisionally back ahead of Anisimova in the WTA Live Rankings ahead of the latter’s match in Brisbane, with the 21-year-old back in United Cup action for the second straight year.

Though she lost to Jessica Bouzas Maneiro of Spain in round-robin action, she also beat Argentina’s Solana Sierra, and picked up a big quarter-final win over Maria Sakkari of Greece on Wednesday.

With the United States now in the semi-final of the team competition, Gauff has the chance to earn more ranking points across the rest of the mixed team — potentially allowing her to extend her lead over her compatriot.

Will it impact the Australian Open draw?

Next week’s WTA Rankings will set the seedings for the opening Grand Slam event of the year: the Australian Open.

Action in Melbourne will begin on Sunday, January 18, and both Gauff and Anisimova will be among the leading title contenders in the women’s singles draw.

However, the impending ranking switch between the two will not impact the hand they are dealt when the draw is made.

The third and fourth-seeded players are both in the same seeding group and will be drawn in the same half as one of the top two seeds at the event.

That means that Gauff and Anisimova will either draw No 1 seed Aryna Sabalenka or No 2 Iga Swiatek in their half, and that would have remained the case even if Anisimova had stayed ahead in the WTA Rankings.

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