WTA Rankings: Champion Keys matches career high, Badosa returns to top 10

Madison Keys‘ superb maiden Grand Slam title at this year’s Australian Open has seen the 29-year-old surge seven places up the WTA rankings to return to a career-best position of No 7 as Americans once again dominate the top 10.

Keys joins compatriots Emma Navarro – who slips down a place to No 9 – as well as Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula, both of whom hold their positions at third and sixth respectively, within the WTA’s ten highest ranked players.

Having first reached seventh in the world rankings back in 2016, Keys has risen back to her previous best after coming into the new season as the world No 20. Back-to-back titles in Adelaide and then Melbourne have propelled the American up 13 places in just three weeks in what has been a stunning start to the year.

badosa back in wta elite, while lys and danilovic surge significantly

Another notable move comes from Paula Badosa, who earns just reward for reaching her maiden Grand Slam semi-final in Australia with a two-place jump from twelfth to land back inside the top 10. Yulia Putinsteva makes her top-20 debut courtesy of a strong showing in Adelaide to reach the last four and making the third round in Melbourne.

But Olga Danilovic deservedly makes one of the bigger leaps within the WTA’s top 100, rising 14 places to break into the top 50 after an excellent run to the fourth round of the Australian Open, taking down sixth-ranked Pegula on the way.

In what was one of the other stories of the tournament, Eva Lys earns a huge 37-place jump to move into the top 100 for the first time in her career. Lys remarkably made the fourth round in Melbourne as a lucky loser, only learning she had a place in the main draw ten minutes before her first-round match was due to start.

Other big movers include the resurgent Veronika Kudermetova, who powers up 24 places to 51st after a fourth-round finish of her own, while Jaqueline Cristian also makes a significant rise of 21 places up to No 61.

However, Dayana Yastremska falls heavily, dropping 39 places down to 72nd. The Ukrainian produced one of the stories of the 2024 Australian Open by reaching the last four, but could not make it past the third round this year which has proved expensive.

There is no movement within the top four, but Iga Swiatek has gained significant ground on world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka after the Belarusian dropped points by failing to defend her title in this year’s final, while the Pole improved greatly on her third-round finish last season by returning to the semi-finals this time around.

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