WTA Rankings: Elena Rybakina up to No 4 after Abu Dhabi title

James Richardson 11 Feb 2024 6:01 PM

Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan in action

In the Abu Dhabi Open final on Sunday, Elena Rybakina easily defeated Daria Kasatkina 6-1, 6-4 to win her second championship of the year.

Rybakina has built confidence and improved her standing on the WTA Rankings ensuring she rises to world No 4 on Monday.

The Kazakh No 1 supplants Jessica Pegula in fourth spot and hopes to keep this roll going.

“I was coming to this week without expectations because I had some issues in Melbourne, so we needed some time to get back on court,” Rybakina said.

“I was just trying to get as many matches as I can. Really proud about this week. With every match I felt more confident.”

Rybakina was the only player in the top ten to move up and apart from Pegula all other players remained rooted to their spot.

Ons Jabeur made a net points gain of 107 points through the week but that did not translate into a change of position.

No 7 through No 9 on the rankings all lost points with Qinwen Zheng dropping 184 but remaining at her career-high ranking, while there were also losses for Marketa Vonbdrousova, who hasn’t played since the Australian Open but returns to action in Qatar next week, and Maria Sakkari who suffered a chastening straight sets defeat to Sorana Cirstea in her first match in Abu Dhabi.

Despite losing the final in Abu Dhabi, Kasatkina has produced a solid start to the season.

Abu Dhabi was her second final of the current term after she made her first in Adelaide in January. With a 9-4 record, Kasatkina ranks No 6 on the tour in match wins this year.

Kasakina moves up to No 13 on the WTA Tour Rankings and is one of four top 20 players to make positive moves this week.

Kasatkina and Rybakina are joined by Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova in moving up.

However, neither Keys not Kvitova were actually in action this week.

However it was a good week for Czech women elsewhere as Karolina Pliskova took the Transylvanian Open title and Linda Noskova secured a new career-high ranking of No 28 after coming through qualifying to reach the Abu Dhabi main draw.

Pliskova jumps 19 places to return to world No 59 while further down the rankings Harriet Dart jumps 11 places to be just three spots removed from world No 89 and current British No 2 Jodie Burrage.

Dart was a semi-finalist in Cluj-Napoca.

Mirra Andreeva’s jump to world No 33 makes her the second top 50 player to reach a new career-high ranking next week.