WTA Rankings: Swiatek-Rybakina, and Gauff-Pegula nip and tuck, Raducanu +1, Bucsa and Townsend +32
Aryna Sabalenka remains well clear of the chasing pack in the WTA Rankings, but behind her there will be some interesting battles at the next big event while further down Cristina Bucsa and Taylor Townsend earned big jumps.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka has started her 71st consecutive week at No 1 in the rankings for a total of 79 while her points lead over Iga Swiatek remains at 3,087 with most of the players in the top 10 not featuring on the WTA Tour last week.
Swiatek, though, will once again be under pressure from Elena Rybakina at the upcoming Indian Wells Open with her lead only 335 points while there is also an intense battle for the American No 1 ranking.
Reigning French Open champion Coco Gauff currently holds that position, but her advantage over Jessica Pegula is just 220 points with the gap growing the past week as the latter dropped 185 points after she opted not to defend her ATX Open title in Austin.
Amanda Anisimova is another 500-odd points behind Pegula while Jasmine Paolini is a distant seventh.
Paolini was the only top-10 player in action last week as she featured at the WTA 500 Merida Open, but lost in the semi-final against eventual winner Bucsa, who went on to beat Magdalena Frech in the showpiece match.
Bucsa’s reward after winning her maiden WTA singles title is a 32-place jump to a new career-high No 31 while former world No 22 Frech is just five places behind her after she climbed 21 spots.
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Zhang Shuai was the other semi-finalist in Mexico and she surged 25 places to No 61.
Emma Navarro was the defending champion in Merida, but she lost in the second round and dropped five places to No 25, resulting in a few players – including Zheng Qinwen (No 23) and Emma Raducanu (No 24) to move up one place.
Peyton Stearns was the other singles winner over the weekend as she lifted the ATX Open trophy after beating fellow American Taylor Townsend in the final.
The 24-year-old Stearns is up 14 places to No 48 while Townsend returns to the top 100 as she rose 32 places to No 87.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,675 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 7,588
3. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 7,253
4. Coco Gauff United States – 6,803
5. Jessica Pegula United States – 6,583
6. Amanda Anisimova United States – 6,070
7. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,232
8. Mirra Andreeva – 4,001
9. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 3,845
10. Victoria Mboko Canada – 3,211
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 2,918
12. Belinda Bencic Switzerland – 2,898
13. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,668
14. Linda Noskova Czech Republic – 2,421
15. Madison Keys United States – 2,351
16. Naomi Osaka Japan – 2,324
17. Clara Tauson Denmark – 2,095
18. Iva Jovic United States – 2,095
19. Luidmila Sansonova – 2,050
20. Diana Shnaider – 1,953 (+1)
