Aryna Sabalenka, Iga Swiatek and Elina Svitolina were the title winners in the first week of official competition on the 2026 WTA Tour while the likes of Belinda Bencic, Marta Kostyuk and Alex Eala will also be delighted.
Reigning world No 1 Sabalenka was effectively defending 500 points from her title run at the 2025 Brisbane International and she made it two trophies in a row at the WTA 500 event as she won the tournament without dropping a set.
The four-time Grand Slam winner, who was playing in a third consecutive final at the event, defeated Kostyuk 6–4, 6–3 to win her 22nd career singles title and she is now 38-2 in her last 40 matches in Australia.
Sabalenka was never in danger of losing the No 1 spot in the WTA Rankings this week, but her title run has helped her to increase her lead over Iga Swiatek as it now sits at 2,662, meaning she will remain top after the Australian Open even if she loses early.
Swiatek was 3-2 in the singles at the United Cup, but she is also comfortable at No 2 as she has a lead of 1,905 points over Coco Gauff in third place.
Gauff was 3-1 at the United Cup and she has returned to No 3 following Amanda Anisimova’s early loss at the Brisbane with Elena Rybakina completing the top five.
With Madison Keys dropping two places after losing in the round of 16 in Brisbane, Jasmine Paolini and Mirra Andreeva both climbed one spot while Belinda Bencic returns to the top 10 for the first time since 2023.
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The Swiss won five out of five singles matches at the United Cup and climbed one spot to No 10, which is a remarkable achievement as she started the 2025 season outside the top 400 after giving birth to her first child just over a year a go.
Bencic, of course, is a former world No 4.
Svitolina, a former world No 3, is up one spot to No 12 after winning the Auckland Open while there is a new career-high for Victoria Mboko is she also climbed one place to No 17.
Kostyuk is rewarded with a six-place jump to No 20 after her in Brisbane while 18-year-old Iva Jovic cracks a new high as she is up five places to No 30 after reaching the semi-final in New Zealand.
Wang Xinyu was beaten by Svitolina, but she surged 14 places to No 43 while Alex Eala – who was beaten by Wang at the ASB Classic – climbs four places to No 49 – one place above her previous best.
In terms of British interests, Emma Raducanu remains the No 1 as she remained at No 29 despite losing her only match at the United Cup while Sonay Kartal is up five places to No 63 while Francisco Jones climbed six spots to a new high of No 69.
Former world No 20 Yulia Putintseva was one of the biggest fallers as she dropped 31 places to No 105.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,990 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 8,328
3. Coco Gauff United States – 6,423 (+1)
4. Amanda Anisimova United States – 6,320 (-1)
5. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 5,850
6. Jessica Pegula United States – 5,453
7. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 4,267 (+1)
8. Mirra Andreeva – 4,232 (+1)
9. Madison Keys United States – 4,003 (-2)
10. Belinda Bencic Switzerland – 3,512 (+1)
11. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 3,375 (-1)
12. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 2,856 (+1)
13. Linda Noskova Czech Republic – 2,641 (-1)
14. Clara Tauson Denmark – 2,530
15. Emma Navarro United States – 2,467
16. Naomi Osaka Japan – 2,366
17. Victoria Mboko Canada – 2,157 (+1)
18. Luidmila Sansonova – 2,122 (-1)
19. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,083 (+1)
20. Marta Kostyuk Ukraine – 1,983 (+6)
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The post WTA Rankings: Sabalenka’s lead grows, Gauff back at No 3, Bencic top 10, Kostyuk top 20, Eala cracks new highs appeared first on Tennis365.
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