WTA year-end No 1 ranking to be decided in Riyadh with Aryna Sabalenka on course to deny Iga Swiatek a hat-trick

Shahida Jacobs
Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka
Battle for No 1 spot between Iga Swiatek v Aryna Sabalenka

Iga Swiatek has finished the last two years as the year-end No 1 in the WTA Rankings, but she faces an uphill battle to make it a hat-trick.

The five-time Grand Slam winner has been top of the rankings since November last year and she is assured of remaining in top spot for at least another four weeks despite her inactivity in recent months.

The 23-year-old missed her China Open title defence last week while she will also not be in action at the Wuhan Open as she took an extended break following changes to her coaching team.

The Pole dropped 1,000 points after the Beijing WTA 1000 event, but Sabalenka’s quarter-final exit means the year-end No 1 battle will go down to the wire.

There will once again be 1,000 points on offer for the winner in Wuhan but with no points dropping (the event is returning for the first time since 2019), Swiatek will stay top until the WTA Finals even if her closest rival goes on to win the Wuhan title.

WTA Top 6 After Beijing

1. Iga Swiatek 9,785 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,716
3. Jessica Pegula – 5,945
4. Coco Gauff – 5,593
5. Elena Rybakina – 5,481
6. Jasmine Paolini – 5,293

If Sabalenka does indeed pick up 1,000 points in Wuhan, then the gap to Swiatek will be 159 points (9,785 v 9,716) with only the season-ending event in Riyadh remaining on their calendars.

And Swiatek is the player under pressure as she is defending 1,500 points as she won the WTA Finals undefeated last year. Sabalenka, meanwhile, is defending 625 points after reaching the semi-final.

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“Of course this is something I really want to do [become No 1], it is one of my goals,” Sabalenka said ahead of the Wuhan Open.

“But I learned in the past that if you focus on the rankings and defending points and all that kind of pressure, things can easily go wrong.

“So I prefer to focus on myself and when I’m on court I just try to bring my best tennis and fight for every point.

“If I’ll be able to bring my best tennis I know that I can become world number one.”

There is further good news for Sabalenka as she is only 194 points behind Swiatek in the Race To Riyadh and she only needs to reach the quarter-final in Wuhan to secure the top seed status for the season-ending WTA Finals.

But Swiatek was under similar pressure last year and she ended up beating all-comers at the WTA Finals.

Third place in the year-end WTA Rankings is also up for grabs with Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina and Jasmine Paolini all in the running.

Gauff closed the gap with her title run in Beijing, but Pegula is set to play several events in the coming weeks and could pick up points with her American rival opting to take a break after Wuhan.

Rybakina, meanwhile, remains on the sidelines with Paolini ready to pounce.