Congratulations are in order for Aryna Sabalenka after she won her second Grand Slam today. The Belarusian defeated Zheng Qinwen of China to successfully defend her. But what does it mean for the WTA Rankings and will it bring Sabalenka any closer to recapturing the top rank?
Sabalenka has been in fabulous form for the whole two weeks at the Happy Slam, winning all seven of her matches in straight sets. And this run included some impressive scalps; her quarter-final opponent Barbora Krejcikova lost to her 6-2, 6-3 and she continued her merry run in the semi-final against Coco Gauff.
This was a highly anticipated match, one where Gauff fought hard in the first set, only to lose 7-6 (7-2). She lost the next set 4-6 and Sabalenka was through. In the finals, Zheng was no match for Sabalenka as the Chinese player lost 3-6, 2-6 to the Belarusian.
Aryna Sabalenka went into this Australian Open with 8905 points in the WTA. She was the World No. 2 heading into the competition, just behind Polish tennis star Iga Swiatek. Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff followed them with ranks 3 and 4. Jessica Pegula was the only other player in the Top 5. However, post this tournament too, the rankings aren’t expected to change a lot.
Since Sabalenka was the winner of AO last year, and she was defending her title, her rank won’t get better than 2. Her points too, are far behind Swiatek’s at 9880. Hence, a win by Sabalenka and an early loss by Swiatek won’t be enough to mitigate that difference.
Iga Swiatek lost in the third round to Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic by 6-3, 3-6, 4-6. It was a shocking and unexpected exit but it will only cost her 110 points and Swiatek will hold on to her rank 1 position. Another unexpected result in the Women’s Singles in this Majors was that of Elena Rybakina. The Russian got knocked out by Anna Blinkova in the second round of the match by 6-4, 4-6, 7-6 (22-20). The final set also included the longest tie-breaker in this tournament.
While Rybakina exited early, Coco Gauff reached the semi-finals in this AO. The 19-year-old American stood tall on her expectations, which could’ve been better, but she improved on WTA points. This will result in Gauff going one place higher to rank 3 and Rybakina dropping to rank 5. Gauff came in with 6660 points and because she made the semi-finals, she will exit with 7200 points. Rybakina, on the other hand, will lose 1230 points as a result of this and slip to 5688 from 6918 points.
Jessica Pegula, despite dropping 360 points and slipping to 5705 from 6065, will take the rank 4 position.
For Sabalenka to overtake Swiatek in the WTA rankings, the Belarusian has to win multiple major championships and also subsequently hope that the Polish World No. 1 keeps losing. Another big triumph will give her an addition of more than 1000 points. But currently, Swiatek is nearly 900 points ahead of Sabalenka. That is a lot. For now, Sabalenka can bask in her 2nd Grand Slam title.
