WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka’s big lead over Iga Swiatek, Mirra Andreeva’s career best, Belinda Bencic +13
Aryna Sabalenka has for the first time opened a 2,000-plus point lead over Iga Swiatek in the WTA Rankings while Mirra Andreeva enjoyed another cracking fortnight.
World No 1 Sabalenka started the Indian Wells Open with a 1,091-point advantage over the second-placed Pole and that gap has grown to 2,231 points after the tournament.
Swiatek was the defending champion at WTA 1000 event, but lost in the semi-final so she effectively dropped 610 points while Sabalenka finished runner-up to Andreeva and earned 350 points.
The Belarusian now sits on 9,606 points with Swiatek on 7,375 and that gap is likely to grow at the upcoming Miami Open as well as the clay-court season where the Pole has a lot of points to defend.
Sabalenka is now in her 30th week at No 1, which puts her 16th in the all-time list with Angelique Kerber on 34 weeks ahead of her, while Amelie Mauresmo sits on 39 weeks in 14th place.
Back to the current rankings, Coco Gauff is another 1,312 points adrift in third place following her early exit in California with fellow Americans Jessica Pegula and Madison Keys comfortably completing the top five.
But the biggest star of the WTA Tour show at the moment is Andreeva as she has now won back-to-back WTA 1000 titles following her successes in Dubai and Indian Wells.
The 17-year-old was at No 14 in the WTA Rankings with 2,730 points ahead of the Dubai event in February and broke into the top 10 for the first time, winning the tournament as she climbed five spots to No 9.
Now she finds herself at No 6 after beating Sabalenka in the Indian Wells final.
WTA News
WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh: Keys No 1, Andreeva moves ahead of Swiatek, Gauff with work to do
Miami Open draw: Emma Raducanu and Iga Swiatek handed ‘very tough’ tests
There were minimal changes in the rest of the top 20 with Donna Vekic up three places to No 19 while further down Belinda Bencic returns to the top 50 as she continued her good form.
After missing most of the 2024 season while on maternity leave, Bencic started this campaign just outside the top 400 but by the end of January she was is in the top 160 and returned to the top 100 after winning the Qatar Open.
She reached the quarter-final in Indian Wells and was rewarded with another 13-place jump to No 45.
Last year’s Indian Wells runner-up Maria Sakkari lost early this time around and is down 22 spots to No 51, nine ahead of Emma Raducanu, who dropped five spots, while Naomi Osaka also slipped five places and sits at No 61.
Raducanu – on 1,007 points – is in danger of losing the British No 2 ranking to Sonay Kartel as the 23-year-old is up 20 places to No 63 (993 points) after reaching the fourth round in California. Katie Boulter remains the British No 1 as she is at No 35.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,606 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 7,375
3. Coco Gauff United States – 6,063
4. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,361
5. Madison Keys United States – 5,004
6. Mirra Andreeva – 4,710
7. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,518
8. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 4,448
9. Zheng Qinwen China – 3,985
10. Emma Navarro United States – 3,859
11. Paula Badosa Spain – 3,736
12. Daria Kasatkina – 3,061
13. Diana Shnaider – 2,938
14. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,854
15. Danielle Collins United States – 2,853
16. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic – 2,675
17. Amanda Anisimova United States – 2,335
18. Beatriz Hadid Maia Brazil – 2,317
19. Donna Vekic Croatia – 2,166
20. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 2,158
