Aryna Sabalenka widens her lead over Iga Swiatek in WTA Rankings
The scheme of things is working highly in favour of Aryna Sabalenka as the time for the WTA Finals in Riyadh closes in. The Belrusian player who edged past Iga Swiatek in the WTA Rankings last week has further stretched the gap between her and Swiatek's points. Sabalenka has not played any contests since her win at the Wuhan Open final over Qinwen Zheng. However, despite being out-of-action for the last two weeks, Sabalenka has solified her chances to claim the year-end No. 1 rank in the WTA Standings. For Iga Swiatek, her decision to skip the entirety of the Asian Tour has rendered her campaign in the 2024 WTA Tour significantly lagging behind.
Aryna Sabalenka soars further ahead of Iga Swiatek in WTA Standings
Iga Swiatek last played at the US Open where she faced an early exit at the hands of Jessica Pegula. While she sought rest from the Asian Tour including the Wuhan Open, a significant transformation was witnessed within her coaching staff. The Polish star parted ways with her coach Tomasz Wiktorowski after her sucessful run in the 2023 WTA Tour. The Polish ace, in turn, replaced her Polish coach with Wim Fissette, who has previously served as the coach of Naomi Osaka. All this while, Aryna Sabalenka continued her exploit to close the gap between her and Swiatek's points in the WTA Standings. The Belarusian claimed the US Open title against Pegula before winning the Wuhan Open by beating the home pick, Qinwen Zheng.
Just this last week, the Belarusian claimed the World No. 1 rank in the WTA rankings, leaving Iga Swiatek behind. Sabalenka’s season record stands at 54-12 with four singles titles, while Swiatek has a 54-7 record with five singles titles. Now, the gap between both the players has stretched further ahead. This week, points from the 2023 WTA Finals were removed from rankings due to the earlier scheduling of last year’s event in Cancun, compared to this year’s upcoming event in Riyadh. As defending champion, Swiatek saw her points drop from 9,665 to 7,970, while Sabalenka’s points went from 9,706 to 9,016. Meanwhile, Jessica Pegula, last year’s runner-up, slipped from fourth to sixth, losing 1,080 points.
The reshuffle in the WTA points has brought some remarkable transition in the player rankings. Jasmine Paolini, who didn’t participate in last year’s WTA Finals, has now achieved a new career-high, climbing above Pegula and Elena Rybakina to become world No. 4. Diana Shnaider and Mirra Andreeva also reached personal bests, ranking 14th and 16th, respectively. Among the top ten, only Pegula and Paolini saw changes, with Paolini now tying Francesca Schiavone as the highest-ranked Italian woman in tennis history.
