WTA Rankings Winners & Losers China Open: Paula Badosa, Karolina Muchova & Naomi Osaka surge, Ons Jabeur set to drop
Paula Badosa, Karolina Muchova and Naomi Osaka are among the big WTA Rankings winners from the 2024 China Open, while Maria Sakkari and Ons Jabeur are set for a drop.
Muchova and Coco Gauff will face off in the final of the WTA 1000 tournament in Beijing on Sunday.
Seven of the current WTA top 10 competed at the China Open, while Iga Swiatek, Elena Rybakina and Danielle Collins withdrew.
WTA Top 10 before Beijing
1. Iga Swiatek, Poland – 10,885 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,716
3. Jessica Pegula, United States – 6,220
4. Elena Rybakina, Kazakhstan – 5,871
5. Jasmine Paolini, Italy – 5,348
6. Coco Gauff, United States – 4,983
7. Qinwen Zheng, China – 3,920
8. Emma Navarro, United States – 3,698
9. Danielle Collins, United States – 3,178
10. Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic – 3,161
Having secured the title in Beijing in 2023, world No 1 Swiatek will lose 1,000 points after not playing this year, taking her total to 9,885.
Aryna Sabalenka, the world No 2, started the China Open 2,169 points adrift of Swiatek and could have closed the gap to just 169 points if she won the title.
However, the Belarusian’s quarter-final exit, which matched her result at the 2023 edition, leaves her 1,169 points behind her Polish rival.
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Jessica Pegula will drop 275 points after her last 16 defeat, while Rybakina is set to drop the 390 points from her 2023 semi-final run.
There has not yet been any movement in the live top 10, but Gauff will jump from sixth to fourth — above Jasmine Paolini and Rybakina — if she defeats Muchova in the final.
Projected WTA Live Top 10 after Beijing final
1. Iga Swiatek, Poland – 9,885 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,716
3. Jessica Pegula, United States – 5,945
4. Elena Rybakina, Kazakhstan – 5,481
5. Jasmine Paolini, Italy – 5,293
6. Coco Gauff, United States – 5,243 (5,593)
7. Qinwen Zheng, China – 4,250
8. Emma Navarro, United States – 3,698
9. Danielle Collins, United States – 3,178
10. Barbora Krejcikova, Czech Republic – 3,161
The Big Winners
Paula Badosa, a former world No 2, will move up four spots from 19th to 15th after she continued her resurgence with a run to the China Open semi-finals.
Muchova, who reached a career-high ranking of eighth last year, has made a 19-place leap from 49th to 30th in the live rankings, and she will climb to 22nd if she beats Gauff to win the title.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka will jump from 73rd to 58th after reaching the last 16 of the WTA 1000 event.
Yulia Starodubtseva will be rewarded with a 36-place jump and a new career-high of 79th in the world for her superb run to the China Open quarter-finals as a qualifier.
Rebecca Sramkova, who made the third round in Beijing as a qualifier, will move up nine places to a new career-high of world No 52.
The Big Losers
Liudmila Samsonova is set to fall from 15th to 23rd after her second round exit in Beijing, having been a runner-up in 2023.
Maria Sakkari will drop from 17th to 22nd after withdrawing from Beijing due to injury as she was a quarter-finalist last year.
Ons Jabeur is another star who missed the event through injury, and the Tunisian has fallen seven places to world No 28 in the live rankings. Caroline Garcia also missed the event and is set for an eight place drop to 44th.
Former world No 9 Veronika Kudermetova has suffered a slide of 27 positions from 39th to 66th after reaching the third round.
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