WTA Rankings: Dominant Iga Swiatek practically assured of big feat ahead of Roland Garros
Iga Swiatek has opened another massive lead at the top of the WTA Rankings on the back of her Indian Wells Open success and she is already virtually assured of being the top seed at Roland Garros.
The four-time Grand Slam winner defeated Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-0 in the WTA 1000 final to notch up her 19th career title with the victory also coming with a 1,000-point boost – not that Swiatek needed a points boost as she was already well clear of the chasing pack.
The Pole’s advantage over second-placed Aryna Sabalenka has increased to 2,520 points with Coco Gauff another 1,045 points adrift in third place.
That lead will likely grow at this week’s Miami Open as Swiatek doesn’t have any points to defend after she missed the 2023 edition while Sabalenka will drop 215 points.
The action will then move to clay and all the big players will feature at the two WTA 1000 events – the Madrid Open and Italian Open – and the WTA 500 Stuttgart Open.
There is more good news for Swiatek as she only has 1,335 points to defend on clay ahead of Roland Garros while Sabalenka will defend 1,315 points and – given her 2,520-point lead – it is highly unlikely that she will be passed before the clay-court Grand Slam.
It means the Pole has all more or less secured the top seeding for her title defence at Roland Garros from May 26 to June 8.
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Swiatek started her 95th week at No 1 in the rankings on Monday and if she is on course to pass the 100-week milestone after the Stuttgart Open (April 22).
Behind her the only change in the top 10 saw Australian Open runner-up Qinwen Zheng move one spot up to No 7 with Marketa Vondrousova dropping one place.
Emma Navarro completes the top 20 as the American cracked the top 20 for the first time in her career following her run to the quarter-final of the Indian Wells Open.
Petra Kvitova dropped five places to No 23, but she is set for an even bigger drop in a fortnight as she won’t defend her title in Miami as she is currently on maternity leave.
In terms of the other big-name players, former world No 1 Caroline Wozniacki is knocking on the top 100 door again as she jumped 75 places to No 129 and four-time major winner Naomi Osaka is up 58 places to No 229.
But the award for biggest surge goes to Angelique Kerber as she is up 265 places to No 342 after reaching the third round in Indian Wells.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Iga Swiatek Poland 10,715 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka 8,195
3. Coco Gauff United States 7,150
4. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan 5,848
5. Jessica Pegula United States 5,035
6. Ons Jabeur Tunisia 4,118
7. Qinwen Zheng China 4,050
8. Marketa Vondrousova Czech Republic 4,015
9. Maria Sakkari Greece 3,825
10. Jelena Ostapenko Latvia 3,493
11. Daria Kasatkina – 3,118
12. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic 3,060
13. Beatriz Haddad Maia Brazil 2,870
14. Jasmine Paolini Italy 2,810
15. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,605
16. Ekaterina Alexandrova 2,475
17. Elina Svitolina Ukraine 2,397
18. Madison Keys United States 2,342
19. Veronika Kudermetova – 2,305
20. Emma Navarro United States 2,178
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