Emma Raducanu news: Another huge ranking rise confirmed as top ten beckons

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Emma Raducanu

She may have bowed out in the second round of the Australian Open, but US Open champion Emma Raducanu has still secured a huge rise in the updated WTA rankings.

The method behind the rankings system sees players defend points from tournaments they played in at the same point of each season and as Raducanu had yet to play on the senior tour at this point in 2021, every week offers a chance for her to make huge strides forward.

Raducanu headed into Wimbledon last year ranked at 338 in the WTA rankings and she ended the season in the top 20 after her remarkable US Open triumph in September.

Now there is every chance the British teenager will be a top ten player by the time she plays at Wimbledon again and if she makes progress in upcoming events, she could even be ranked in the top five by the time she plays in her home Grad Slam in June.

The latest WTA rankings show Raducanu making a rise of five places to a new career-high of 13, with all of her top ten rivals defending points from last year in the next few months as they take part in events leading up to the Indian Wells and Miami events in March.

With Raducanu likely to get byes through to the second round of most events she plays, the 19-year-old is automatically picking up healthy numbers of ranking points before she has even hit a ball in these events.

Yet while the next few months will offer real opportunities for Raducanu to make leaps forward in the WTA rankings, the majority of the points she has currently collected are from her run to the fourth round of Wimbledon and remarkable US Open win last year.

So when she gets to play in those two events again this summer, all those points will be dropping off her ranking and she could be set for a huge tumble in the wrong direction.

That was in evidence with Naomi Osaka at the Australian Open, as the defending champion crashed out of the competition in the thrid round and has dropped a massive 71 places in the latest rankings, placing the former world No 1 at 85 in the updated WTA list.

New Australian Open champion Ashleigh Barty is a massive 2,633 points of her nearest rival Aryna Sabalenka at the top of the WTA rankings with 8331 points, while Australian Open runner-up Danielle Collins leaps into the top ten after her fine run in Melbourne.

Raducanu currently has 2,664 points, some 400 away from a place in the top ten of the WTA rankings.

Emma Raducanu

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