Swiatek opens huge lead in WTA rankings as Kontaveit climbs to No 2

After winning her sixth consecutive title and 35th match in a row, Poland’s Iga Swiatek has established a firm hold on top of the WTA rankings

Poland’s Iga Swiatek poses with the trophy after winning the women’s singles French Open title Image Credit: AI / Reuters / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

June 6, 2022

Poland’s Iga Swiatek further increased her huge lead in the WTA rankings over the rest of the field after winning her second Roland-Garros title in three years in Paris on Saturday.

The 21-year-old defeated first-time Grand Slam finalist Coco Gauff in straight sets on Saturday to win her sixth title in a row and extend her unbeaten streak to 35 matches, now tied with Venus Williams for the longest winning streak on the WTA Tour since 2000.

The Pole’s points tally is now more than the combined points tally of the current world No 2 and No 3, which demonstrates her overall lead in the points table.

World No. 1 Iga Swiatek has more ranking points (8631) than No. 2 Kontaveit (4326) & No. 3 Badosa (4245) combined.

The gap is even bigger in the Race to the WTA Finals, with Swiatek having more points in 2022 (7290) than Jabeur (2520), Pegula (2232) & Gauff (2077) combined. pic.twitter.com/Yw8bCf6QKk
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) June 6, 2022

Gauff, who also finished as runner-up in the women’s doubles final along with countrywoman Jessie Pegula, jumped 10 spots to a new career-high of No 13 this week. Meanwhile, Pegula moved up three spots to a new career-best of No 8 and is now the top-ranked American female tennis player in the world.

Anett Kontaviet, who has now split with coach Dmitry Tursunov, moved up three spots to a new peak of No while Spain’s Paula Badosa climbed up one spot to No 3.

Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur makes her top 5 debut as she moves up two spots to No 4 and Maria Sakkari drops two spots to No 5.

Krejcikova drops out of top 10 in WTA rankings after early French Open exit

Defending French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova plummeted 12 spots down from No 2 to No 14 in the rankings after her title defense came to an end in the first round itself.

Also outside the top 10, US Open champion Emma Raducanu moved up a notch to a new peak of No 11while Roland-Garros semi-finalist Daria Kasatkina climbed eight spots to No 12, just two spots shy of her all-time peak of No 10.

19-year-old Leylah Fernandez climbed three spots to a career-best of No 15 after reaching her first French Open quarter-final and Italy’s Martina Tresvian was the big mover after reaching her first Major semi-final in Paris, leaping 32 spots to No 27.

Others with big gains this week include Belarus’ Aliaksandra Sasnovich (+11 to No 36), Romania’s Irina-Camelia Begu (+19 to No 44), Belgium’s Alison Van Uytvanck (+14 to No 46), American Sloane Stephens (+17 to No 47), China’s Qinwen Zheng (+20 to No 54), and French teen Diane Perry (+15 to No 82).