WTA Rankings: Rybakina poised to overtake Swiatek as Mboko makes top-10 debut, Muchova +8
Aryna Sabalenka remains well clear at the top of the rankings despite her absence from the Qatar Open, but Iga Swiatek is under pressure from Elena Rybakina while Victoria Mboko and Karolina Muchova were two big winners in Doha.
Swiatek and Rybakina had a chance to chip away at Sabalenka’s massive lead in the WTA Rankings with deep runs at the WTA 1000 event, but both fell in the quarter-final, and thus the world No 1 has a 3,067 points advantage over Swiatek.
Four-time Grand Slam winner Sabalenka has now spent 70 consecutive weeks at No 1 for a total of 78, which puts 11th in the all-time list for most weeks at No 1 with Lindsay Davenport in 10th on 98.
Behind the battle for second place is heating up as Rybakina is now just 280 points adrift of Swiatek and she has a chance to overtake the Pole at this week’s Dubai Tennis Championship with a run to the semi-final.
Amanda Anisimova was the defending champion in Qatar, but she lost in the second round and has suffered a two-place drop and she is now the American No 3 as compatriots Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula have both overtaken her.
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There is one newcomer to the top 10 with teenage star Victoria Mboko making her bow at No 10 after she climbed three places with her run to the final in Doha.
The 20-year-old Canadian beat Mirra Andreeva, Rybakina and Jelena Ostapenko en route to the final before losing against Karolina Muchova.
2023 French Open runner-up Muchova’s biggest career title has earned her an eight-place jump to No 11 – three spots below her career best of eighth.
Ekaterina Alexandrova is the player who exited the top 10 as she is down two places, along with Belinda Bencic and Linda Noskova.
Anna Kalinskaya reached the last eight and she is rewarded with a five-place jump to No 23 while fellow quarter-finalist Maria Sakkari, who stunned Swiatek, surges 18 places to No 34.
Lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto also produced an upset as she beat two-time Grand Slam winner Gauff in the second round and the Italian is up 17 places to No 40.
Camila Osorio is another big riser as the Colombian is +18 to No 62, two places behind Varvara Gracheva, who climbed 13 places.
In terms of fallers, Alex Eala is -7 to No 40 after she lost in the first round in Qatar, Emiliana Aranga is also down seven spots to No 56 as is Cristina Bucsa (No 62).
Former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova reached the round of 16 after using her protected ranking to enter following recent injury struggles and she surged 151 places to No 267.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,870 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 7,803
3. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 7,523
4. Coco Gauff United States – 6,423 (+1)
5. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,888 (+1)
6. Amanda Anisimova United States – 5,690 (-2)
7. Mirra Andreeva -4,786
8. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,157
9. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 3,260
10. Victoria Mboko Canada – 3,246 (+3)
11. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 3,058 (+8)
12. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 2,918 (-2)
13. Belinda Bencic Switzerland – 2,843 (-2)
14. Linda Noskova Czech Republic – 2,571 (-2)
15. Clara Tauson Denmark – 2,530 (-1)
16. Naomi Osaka Japan – 2,366 (-1)
17. Madison Keys United States – 2,351 (-1)
18. Luidmila Sansonova – 2,105 (-1)
19. Emma Navarro United States – 2,100 (-1)
20. Iva Jovic United States – 2,031
