WTA Rankings: Aryna Sabalenka wastes golden chance, Coco Gauff +2, Mirra Andreeva reaches milestone, Shuai Zhang +345

Iga Swiatek has started her 124th week at No 1 in the WTA Rankings and she will remain top until the WTA Finals after Aryna Sabalenka missed out at the China Open while Coco Gauff received a boost after her title run.

With Swiatek opting not to defend her title at the Beijing WTA event, she dropped 1,000 points and gave Sabalenka an opportunity to get within striking distance.

Sabalenka, though, did waste the chance as she lost in the quarter-final, but the gap has been reduced to 1,069 points and the Belarusian will get another shot at reducing the deficit at the Wuhan Open this week as the Pole is skipping the tournament.

But the battle for the year-end No 1 ranking will only be settled at the WTA Finals in November as the top two will only compete again in Riyadh after the Chinese swing.

It means Swiatek is assured of at least another four weeks at No 1.

Jessica Pegula remains third, but she is now under pressure from Gauff after the 2023 US Open champion moved up two spots on the back of her China Open title. With no points to defend in Wuhan, another extended run for Gauff could see her move past her fellow American.

Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, dropped to fifth place as she also didn’t play in Beijing with Jasmine Paolini just behind her.

Paula Badosa – who found herself at No 140 in May – reached the semi-final of the China Open and she was rewarded with a four-place rise to No 15, her highest position since January 2023.

There is a new career-high for Donna Vekic as she moves up one spot to No 18 while Mirra Andreeva makes her top 20 debut as she climbs four places to No 19. Aged just 17, she is the youngest player in the top 100 with her jump coming on the back of a quarter-final run in Beijing.

Maria Sakkari and Ons Jabeur’s slide continues as they are both out with injuries with the former dropping five places to No 22 while Jabeur is down eight spots to No 29.

Karolina Muchova finished runner-up to Gauff in Beijing and she is rewarded with a 19-place jump to No 30 while Naomi Osaka is back in the top 60 as she moved up 15 places after reaching the last 16.

Veronika Kudermetova was one of the biggest droppers as she slipped 24 places to No 63.

The China Open, though, did produce two fairytale runs as qualifier Yuliia Starodubtseva beat two seeded players to reach the quarter-final before losing to Gauff and she makes her top 100 breakthrough as she is up 36 places to No 79.

Shuai Zhang was the biggest winner as she entered her home event on the back of 24 consecutive losses. She entered via a wildcard as she was at No 595 before the tournament, but she ended her losing streak with victory over McCartney Kessler.

The former world No 22 then stunned sixth seed Emma Navarro and reached the last eight before losing to Badosa, but she has surged 345 places in the rankings to No 250.

WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Iga Swiatek Poland – 9,785 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,716
3. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,945
4. Coco Gauff United States – 5,593
5. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 5,481
6. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 5,293
7. Qinwen Zheng China – 4,300
8. Emma Navarro United States – 3,698
9. Danielle Collins United States – 3,177
10. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic – 3,161
11. Daria Kasatkina – 3,075
12. Beatriz Hadid Maia Brazil – 3,036
13. Anna Kalinskaya – 2,825
14. Jelena Ostapenko Latvia – 2,748
15. Paula Badosa Spain – 2,714
16. Diana Shnaider – 2,641
17. Marta Kostyuk Ukraine – 2,383
18. Donna Vekic Croatia – 2,243
19. Mirra Andreeva – 2,218
20. Madison Keys United States – 2,196