WTA Rankings: Iga Swiatek starts week No 53 as world No 1 with Simona Halep in her sights

Shahida Jacobs
Iga Swiatek talks to the media

Iga Swiatek’s lead at the top of the WTA Rankings has been reduced further by Aryna Sabalenka, but the Pole is set to remain at the top for a few more weeks and will close the gap to Simona Halep in terms of most weeks spent at No 1.

The three-time Grand Slam winner started her 53rd week at No 1 on Monday and she is now just 11 weeks adrift of Halep, who is in 11th place for total weeks at the top of the rankings.

2018 Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki occupies the final spot in the top 10 as the Dane spent 71 weeks at No 1, but Swiatek still has a long way to go to get there, let alone Lindsay Davenport (98 weeks), Justine Henin (117) weeks or Ashleigh Barty (121 weeks)

The Pole missed the defence of her Miami Open the past fortnight due to a rib injury while she also lost out at the Indian Wells Open as she lost in the semi-final against Elena Rybakina.

Having started the year with a 6,000-point advantage at the top, Swiatek’s lead has been cut to 2,030 points by Sabalenka. The 21-year-old sits on 8,975 points after the 1,000 points from Miami dropped off while Sabalenka added 205 points to her tally after reaching the quarter-final in Florida.

Swiatek, who will return to action at the Stuttgart Open, is assured of staying top for a couple more weeks due to that 2,030-point buffer and if she is still at the top at the beginning of August then she will move into the top 10 for most weeks spent at No 1.

But that is far from an easy task as she has 3,500 points to defend during the clay-court season after winning titles in Stuttgart, Rome and Roland Garros last year.

Sabalenka, on the other hand, doesn’t have too many points to defend and could well replace Swiatek at No 1 in a couple of months.

Jessica Pegula, Caroline Garcia and Ons Jabeur complete the top five of the WTA Rankings while Elena Rybakina remains at her career-high No 7 after finishing runner-up to Petra Kvitova at the Miami Open.

Kvitova is also back in the top 10 after winning her first WTA 1000 title in nearly five years while further down the list Martina Trevisa makes her top 20 debut after climbing four places after reaching the quarter-final in Miami.

WTA Rankings Top 20

1. Iga Swiatek Poland 8,975 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 6,945
3. Jessica Pegula United States 5,605
4. Caroline Garcia France 4,990
5. Ons Jabeur Tunisia 4,866
6. Coco Gauff United States 4,346
7. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan 4,305
8. Daria Kasatkina – 3,375
9. Maria Sakkari Greece 3,191
10. Petra Kvitova Czech Republic 3,162
11. Belinda Bencic Switzerland 3,035
12. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic 2,443
13. Veronika Kudermetova – 2,360
14. Beatriz Haddad Maia Brazil 2,276
15. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,246
16. Karolina Pliskova Czech Republic 2,210
17. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 2,185
18. Victoria Azarenka – 2,182
19. Magda Linette Poland 1,855
20. Martina Trevisa Italy 1,778