What Aryna Sabalenka needs to do to replace Iga Swiate as world No 1

Iga Swiatek’s shock defeat in the quarter-final at Wimbledon has presented Aryna Sabalenka another golden opportunity to replace the Pole at No 1 in the WTA Rankings.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Swiatek has spent 66 consecutive weeks at No 1 as she has topped the rankings since April 4 last year and for the majority of that time she was untouchable.

Sabalenka, though, managed to close the gap with her Australian Open title win at the start of the year and has consistently chipped away at the Pole’s lead to get within touching distance at the French Open.

However, she lost in the semi-final while Swiatek went on to successfully defend her Roland Garros title.

But opportunity knocks again for the Belarusian at Wimbledon after Elina Svitolina stunned the 22-year-old Swiatek in three sets on Tuesday, opening the door for Sabalenka to become the 29th WTA No 1.

Current WTA Rankings

Swiatek started this year’s grass-court Grand Slam with 8,990 points while Sabalenka is on 8,066 points and, with no points awarded at Wimbledon last year following the decision to ban Russian and Belarusian players, neither player will lose any points after the tournament.

Having reached the last eight at SW19, Swiatek added another 430 points to her tally so she is on 9,420 points in the Live Rankings- a 924-point advantage over Sabalenka who still has to play her quarter-final against Madison Keys.

Should Sabalenka get the better of Keys on Wednesday, it won’t be enough to move to No 1 as you only get 780 points for reaching the semi-final.

The Belarusian has to reach at least the final to claim the No 1 crown as players get 1,300 points for finishing runner-up at a Grand Slam while you earn 2,000 points for winning the title.

If Sabalenka does get past Keys, she still faces a tricky run as she will face defending champion Elena Rybakina or last year’s runner-up Ons Jabeur in the semi-final while Marketa Vondrousova or Elina Svitolina will await in the final.

Back in June, Sabalenka declared she is ready to become world No 1: “I think I improved a lot, and I have everything to be No 1.”

Although she was determined not to be distracted by talk about rankings.

“I don’t want to focus on [the No 1 ranking]. I just want to focus on my game, and I just want to bring my best game every time on the court,” the 25-year-old added.

READ MORE: Elena Rybakina ‘half a step ahead’ of rivals Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka