Sabalenka pips Swiatek to return to top in WTA rankings

New Delhi (The Uttam Hindu) :  Aryna Sabalenka surpassed Iga Swaitek to climb back to the No. 1 spot in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday. Neither player was in action last week, but with continuing year-end adjustments for falling short of certain tournament quotas, Sabalenka dropped fewer points than Swiatek. Sabalenka has 9,706 points compared to second-placed Swiatek's 9,665, taking a narrow 41-point lead. American Coco Gauff is third with 5,963 points followed by compatriot Jessica Pegula (5,785) in fourth and Elena Rybakina in fifth with 5471 points.

"N1…. Let’s see for how long this time," Sabalenka posted on X after becoming the world No. 1 player. Sabalenka spent eight weeks at the summit last year before Swiatek overtook her with a victory at the season-ending WTA Finals and the Belarusian hopes for a longer stay at No. 1 in WTA rankings. Heading into the Cincinnati Open, Sabalenka was ranked No.3 behind American Gauff and Swiatek was up 3,289 points. But even though Swiatek reached the semifinals, Sabalenka won the title and collected 1,000 points that went with it.

As the duo lined up for the US Open, Swiatek produced a good result, reaching the quarterfinals, but Sabalenka again won the title. That sliced the margin to 2,169 points. Swiatek was the defending champion at the China Open but elected to skip the Asian swing while attending to a coaching change. So while 1,000 points came off Swiatek’s total, Sabalenka went to the quarters, picking up 215 points -- leaving her down 1,069 points. Winning the title at Wuhan, beating No.4 Gauff in the semifinals and No.7 Zheng Qinwen in the final brought Sabalenka an additional 1,000 points, according to WTA stats. Overall, in a span of nine weeks, Sabalenka accumulated 4,000 points. By comparison, consider that only seven WTA Tour players have that many for the entire year.

In other notable rankings movements, Kasatkina, who won her eighth career title (and second of 2024) at last week's WTA 500 event in Ningbo, returned to the Top 10 for the first time since July 2023. She jumped two spots to be placed ninth. French teenager Mirra Andreeva rose to a new career high to No. 17. She reached her second career final and first at the WTA 500 level in Ningbo before being pipped by Kasatkina in a tense final.