Breaking News: Fans expresses enormous disappointment and sadness towards Coco Gauff and Aryna Sabalenka due to…
Coco Gauff has maintained her advantage over Aryna Sabalenka in the WTA Rankings, while Anna Kalinskaya has climbed to a new milestone position.
Iga Swiatek is one of four players in the current WTA top 20, along with Jasmine Paolini, Danielle Collins and Madison Keys, who did not play last week.
The 23-year-old Pole remains the world No 1 by a significant margin, with the gap to second place now a huge 3,567 points.
Gauff and Sabalenka were battling for the world No 2 spot at the Berlin Open last week and the former did enough to hold onto the position.
The American reached the semi-finals at the WTA 500 tournament, where she was beaten by compatriot and eventual champion Jessica Pegula.
Sabalenka, meanwhile, was forced to retire through injury in her quarter-final match with eventual runner-up Kalinskaya. This means Gauff and Sabalenka will be seeded second and third respectively at Wimbledon, which will get underway on July 1.
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There was no movement in the top 15 of the WTA Rankings, but former No 1 Victoria Azarenka climbed three places from 19th to 16th after reaching the last four in Berlin.
Kalinskaya lost a nail-biting Berlin final to Pegula after having five championship points in the deciding set, but she has cracked the top 20 for the first time following her impressive run.
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The 25-year-old Russian has risen seven places from world No 24 to a new career-high ranking of 17th. Linda Noskova and Katerina Siniakova are also up to career-best positions of 26th and 27th respectively.
Barbora Krejcikova has dropped six places from 25th to 31st as she fell short of her 2023 runner-up result in Birmingham by making the quarter-finals last week.
Yulia Putintseva has jumped seven spots from 41st to a ranking of world No 34 after she won the WTA 250 event in Birmingham.
Ajla Tomljanovic, who lost in the final to Putintseva, has made a healthy leap of 55 places from 180th to 135th as she continues her comeback from an injury layoff.
Donna Vekic has fallen 10 positions from 39th to 49th after her second round exit in Berlin, having been a finalist last year.
Petra Kvitova has not played since October as she is on maternity leave and her ranking has taken a big hit this week.
The two-time Wimbledon champion has dropped 71 places to world No 126 after losing the 500 points she earned for winning the Berlin title in 2023.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Iga Swiatek, Poland – 11,695 points
2. Coco Gauff, United States – 8,128
3. Aryna Sabalenka – 7,841
4. Elena Rybakina, Kazakhstan – 6,026
5. Jessica Pegula, United States – 5,025
6. Marketa Vondrousova, Czech Republic – 4,463
7. Jasmine Paolini, Italy – 4,068
8. Qinwen Zheng, China – 4,055
9. Maria Sakkari, Greece – 3,805
10. Ons Jabeur, Tunisia – 3,801
11. Danielle Collins, United States – 3,532
12. Madison Keys, United States – 3,343
13. Jelena Ostapenko, Latvia – 3,098
14. Daria Kasatkina – 3,088
15. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,830
16. Victoria Azarenka – 2,399
17. Anna Kalinskaya – 2,310
18. Marta Kostyuk, Ukraine – 2,240
19. Emma Navarro, United States – 2,238
20. Beatriz Haddad Maia, Brazil – 2,213
Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff remain on semi-final collision course
Reigning champion Aryna Sabalenka reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in dominant fashion while Coco Gauff made the last eight in Melbourne for the first time; we will bring you live scores, reports, analysis and features from Melbourne
Sunday 21 January 2024 09:03, UK
Aryna Sabalenka and Coco Gauff restored order at the Australian Open by easing into the quarter-finals.
While Iga Swiatek’s shock loss to Linda Noskova on Saturday means no top-10 seeds made the fourth round in the top half of the draw, Sabalenka and Gauff are on a semi-final collision course in the bottom half.
Neither has yet dropped a set and they lost only eight games between them in the fourth round, Sabalenka beating Amanda Anisimova 6-3 6-2 and Gauff racing to a 6-1 6-2 victory over Magdalena Frech.
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It was a particularly impressive win and performance from defending champion Sabalenka, who had lost four of her previous five matches against Anisimova.
The 22-year-old American has been resurgent here having missed most of last season for mental health reasons but could not match the precision power of her opponent.
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Anisimova reacted to the defeat by dropping her racket on the court and leaving it there as she walked off Margaret Court Arena.
“I’m super happy with the level, happy to get this win,” said Sabalenka. “She’s a tough opponent and I’m super happy to see her back on tour. I’m pretty sure she’ll be back at the top soon.
“I really want to stay here as long as I can until the very last day and, hopefully, we can get this one one more time.”
In the last eight, Sabalenka will face ninth seed Barbora Krejcikova, who ended the run of 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva with a 4-6 6-3 6-2 victory.
Gauff is breaking new ground having made it through to the last eight at Melbourne Park for the first time.
“I’m super happy to be in this position and be here,” said the 19-year-old. “I think I had three fourth rounds. It’s cool to get over that hump. Hopefully I can keep going for more.”
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Next she will take on Ukraine’s Marta Kostyuk, who made the last eight at a Grand Slam for the first time with a 6-2 6-1 victory over qualifier Maria Timofeeva.
Kostyuk had her breakthrough run here six years ago as a 15-year-old, reaching the third round, and she said: “Definitely a lot has changed. I really feel like it was in a different lifetime. A lot of things have happened in the past six years. I’ve changed probably six times already.
“I always say that I think change is always good. That means I’m not staying in one spot. Whether you feel like you’re changing in the worst way or in the better way, I think it’s good to keep all the change happening.
“It was a hell of a journey so far already. It’s been a lot of years and I’m very happy I still feel fresh.”
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