WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh: Sabalenka at No 1, Keys, Swiatek comfortable, Gauff with work to do
Aryna Sabalenka has taken over from Madison Keys at No 1 in the WTA Rankings Race To Riyadh, but there are several rising stars among the big names in the current top eight.
The 2025 WTA Finals will once be staged in Saudi Arabia in November with eight players competing for the biggest prize pot in women’s tennis.
The official prize money figures are yet to be released, but last year Coco Gauff won $4.8m after winning the tournament.
The top seven women in the Rankings Race To Riyadh qualify for the tournament while one spot is reserved for a current-year Grand Slam winner who sits between eighth and 20th in the rankings.
If that player is among the top seven, then the final spot will go to the player at No 8 in the Race.
There are also two alternate spots available for the players usually ranked No 9 and No 10 and they will fill in if anyone withdraws from the tournament.
The four Grand Slams – where 2,000 points are on offer to each of the winners with the runners-up earning 1,300 – are usually key to the players who qualify. Next are the WTA 1000 events and three tournaments at this level have already been staged in the first few months of the 2025 season.
Unsurprisingly, the winner of the only Grand Slam so far this year, Madison Keys, initially headlined the Race To Riyadh thanks to the 2,000 points she earned with her Australian Open title. She also won the Adelaide International and reached the semi-final of the WTA 1000 Indian Wells Open.
Keys had a slim lead over Australian Open runner-up Aryna Sabalenka after Indian Wells, but the latter has moved to No 1 following her title-winning run at the Miami Open.
Three-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka now sits on 3,580 points for a 570-point lead over Keys while teenager Mirra Andreeva is in third place with five-time major champion Iga Swiatek in fourth.
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Andreeva won her maiden WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Tennis Championships in February and she followed it up with a second big trophy at Indian Wells, but she lost early in Miami.
Jessica Pegula has moved up three places to No 5 after she finished runner-up to Sabalenka while another rising star Clara Tauson, who lost the Dubai final against Andreeva, is also comfortably in the top eight.
Qatar Open champion Amanda Anisimova has moved up to eighth after she reached the fourth round in Florida.
Defending WTA Finals champion and world No 3 Gauff has work to do in the Live Race as she is at No 11 after also exiting in the round of 16.
After steering the United States to the United Cup final, Gauff lost in the quarter-final of the Australian Open and followed it up with two early exits in the Middle East Swing before losing in the third round in Indian Wells.
Much lower down the list Emma Raducanu now sits at 41 in the Race – up 32 places after she reached the quarter-final in Miami – while semi-finalist Alex Eala surged 169 places to No 46.
But the 2025 WTA Tour season is only three months and there are still three Grand Slams and seven WTA 1000 tournaments remaining on the calendar.
Top 12 In WTA Rankings Race
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 3,580
2. Madison Keys – 3,010
3. Mirra Andreeva – 2,565
4. Iga Swiatek – 2,315
5. Jessica Pegula – 1,811
6. Clara Tauson – 1,365
7. Elena Rybakina – 1,320
8. Amanda Anisimova – 1,266
9. Paula Badosa – 1,255
10. Emma Navarro – 1,245
11. Coco Gauff – 1,190
12. Belinda Bencic – 1,173
