WTA Rankings: Swiatek No 1 for 44th straight week as Sabalenka climbs to No 2

Despite her earlier than expected exit at the Australian Open, the Pole holds a comfortable 4,385 points lead over her closest rival

Zuma / Panoramic

Haresh Ramchandani

January 30, 2023

Despite her earlier than expected exit at the Australian Open, Poland’s Iga Swiatek remains on top of the WTA rankings – beginning her 44th consecutive week as the world’s top ranked player.

Swiatek, winner of two of the last three Majors coming into the Australian Open, lost in the fourth round in Melbourne this year but still holds a comfortable lead of 4,385 points over her closest rival and newly crowned Aussie Open champion Aryna Sabalenka.

The Belarusian, who won her first Grand Slam title on Saturday, moves up one spot to No 2 – equalling her career-best ranking.

Swiatek and Sabalenka are followed by Ons Jabeur (-1) at No 3, Jessica Pegula (-1) at No 4, Caroline Garcia (-1) to No 5, Coco Gauff (+1) at No 6, Maria Sakkari (-1) at No 7, Daria Kasatkina at No 8, Belinda Bencic (+1 to No 9) and Australian Open runner-up Elena Rybakina, jumping 15 spots to No 10.

Rybakina is first Kazakh to break into top 10 of ATP or WTA Rankings

Elena Rybakina makes her top 10 debut this week, despite gaining no points for winning the Wimbledon singles title last July. This makes her the first player from Kazakhstan, male or female, to break into the top 10 in the world rankings.

Outside the top 10, former Roland-Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko move sup five spots to No 12, two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova is up two spots to No 13,and two-time Australian Open champion Victoria Azarenka climbs eight spots to No 16 after reaching her first Major semi-final since 2020.

Former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova, a quarter-finalist at the Australian Open, moves up 11 spots to return to the top 20 at No 20.

Magda Linette, who reached her first Grand Slam semi-final in Melbourne, jumps 23 spots to No 22: Croatian Donna Vekic, a quarter-finalist last week, moves up 31 spots to No 33; and Czech teen Linda Fruhvirtova, who reached the last 16, climbs 31 spots to a new career-high of No 51.

China’s Lin Zhu, who also reached the fourth round in Melbourne, shoots 33 spots to No 54 in the biggest jump in this week’s top 100 to reach a new career high for herself.