WTA Rankings – Rybakina surges into the top 5 as Kalinina reaches new career high

Elena Rybakina and Anhelina Kalinina have reaped the greatest rewards in the updated WTA rankings, following their runs to the final of the Italian Open.

Kalinina has gained an extra 590 ranking points, which catapults the Ukrainian up into the world’s top 25 for the very first time in her career.

Rybakina rises – Italian Open champion reaps rewards of Rome run

Rybakina, who went one step further than Kalinina by taking the title in Rome, has earned a huge 895 points as a reward for her exploits in the Italian capital.

It maintains a season-long trend, which has seen the Kazakh creeping steadily up the rankings with each week that passes, as she continues to put together an extraordinary season.

Having seen her victory at Wimbledon last season count for nothing towards her ranking, Rybakina’s standing now finally reflects the calibre of player she really is.

With a clean slate of points to build from at Wimbledon, where her powerful serve will be at its most potent, a bid for the No. 1 spot is not beyond the realm of possibility for the Kazakh.

Jabeur falls as Italian Open exit takes its toll

Ons Jabeur, on the other hand, has continued to haemorrhage points as her comeback from a calf injury coincides with a clay-court stretch in which she had many points to defend.

Having won the Madrid Open last year and followed that up with a run to the final in Rome, Jabeur’s absence from Madrid this year combined with her early exit for the Italian Open have been expensive.

Jabeur lost 575 points over the past fortnight, dropping down to No. 7 in the rankings.

Iga Swiatek loses ground at the top

It is also worth noting that, despite still enjoying a comfortable lead as world No. 1, Iga Swiatek has lost 685 points as a result of her quarter-final exit in Rome. Swiatek, who has won the Italian Open for the past two years, is now well within the view of second-placed Aryna Sabalenka.

Should the Pole fail to defend her Roland-Garros title, a grass-court stretch that Swiatek has previously struggled to get to grips with will provide big-servers Rybakina and Sabalenka a huge opportunity to close that gap at the top even further.

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