Swiatek matches Barty’s record of weeks as world No 1
The Pole started her 121st week in the top position on Monday
Ashleigh Barty and Iga Swiatek (Antoine Couvercelle / Panoramic)
Poland’s Iga Swiatek matched Australia’s Ashleigh Barty record of 121 weeks as the world No 1 women’s singles player on Monday (September 16, 2024). Swiatek reigns over the WTA singles rankings with a staggering 10,885 points against her column.
She is followed by Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka in second place with 8,716 points and American Jessica Pegula in third, possessing 6,220 points.
Swiatek interestingly took over the pole position from Barty on April 4, 2022, after the Aussie relinquished the top spot with an unexpected retirement. The Pole then reigned the WTA tally for 75 weeks, winning three Grand Slam titles on the way.
The 23-year-old was dethroned by Sabalenka on September 11, 2023, after ending the US Open as the finalist. The Belarusian sat atop for eight weeks before Swiatek regained her place on November 6, 2023, courtesy of a title-winning campaign at WTA Finals.
She has held the summit since then as she began her 121st week as the world No 1 on Monday. The development means she’s now tied seventh with Ashleigh Barty on the all-time women’s list, ruled by 22-time Grand Slam champion Steffi Graf, who amassed 377 weeks as the top-ranked.
Czech-American Martina Navratilova (332) sits second on the tally ahead of 23-time Major winner Serena Williams (319) in third, Chris Evert (260) in fourth, Martina Hingis (209) in fifth, and Monica Seles (178) in sixth.
Ashleigh Barty, who took up tennis professionally in 2010 aged 14, first climbed to the top WTA spot on June 24, 2019, replacing Naomi Osaka.
The Aussie remained the highest-ranked woman for seven weeks before Osaka unseated her briefly. She returned to the first place on September 9, 2019, and accumulated 114 more weeks till April 3, 2022.
Notably, the rankings were frozen in 2020 from March 23-August 9 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, thus, the period of 20 weeks didn’t add to Barty’s account.
Iga Swiatek Trails Ashleigh Barty 2-0 in head-to-head
Iga Swiatek and Ashleigh Barty faced each other on the WTA Tour twice before the latter called it a day in 2022.
The two first met in a Round-of-16 battle at the 2021 Madrid Open, where Barty, seeded first, won 7-5, 6-4. In the following year, the Aussie took her head-to-head lead over Swiatek to 2-0 by winning their semi-final showdown at Adelaide International 6-2, 6-4.
Barty won the Adelaide event and later claimed the Australian Open championship for a third Grand Slam, defeating American Danielle Collins in the final.
