The Italian Open produced a major shock with defending champion Iga Swiatek losing early and it has had a major impact on her position in the WTA Rankings.
Jasmine Paolini was the big winner in Rome as she delighted fans by becoming only the second Italian woman to win the tournament in the Open Era.
Having earned 990 points (she dropped 10 points from 2024), Paolini received a big boost in the rankings as she moved up one place to No 4 while beaten finalist Coco Gauff returned to No 2.
After back-to-back runners-up finishes as she lost the Madrid Open final against Aryna Sabalenka, Gauff is back at No 2 for the first time since August last year.
Sabalenka still leads the rankings by a comfortable margin despite her quarter-final loss to Zheng Qinwen as the three-time Grand Slam winner has a mammoth 3,820-point advantage over Gauff with Jessica Pegula another 620 points adrift in third place after she climbed one spot after the latest WTA 1000 event.
Sabalenka has now spent 39 weeks at No 1, putting her joint 14th with Amelie Mauresmo for most weeks at No 1 in the all-time list with Victoria Azarenka in 13th on 51 weeks.
But the biggest top-10 ranking story was undoubtedly Swiatek following her third-round defeat to Danielle Collins.
The five-time Grand Slam winner dropped 935 points and slipped three places to No 5 in the rankings, her lowest position since March 2022 when she was No 8. It means she will be seeded fifth for her title defence at Roland Garros next week and could face several big-name players early on.
WTA News
Points and money earned by Paolini, Gauff, Swiatek, Raducanu, Eala at Italian Open
Mirra Andreeva is back at No 6 as she moved up one place after reaching the quarter-final in Rome while Madison Keys drops one spot.
There were minimal changes in the rest of the top 20, but Jelena Ostapenko has dropped three places to No 21 after her fourth-round exit.
Peyton Stearns reached her maiden WTA 1000 semi-final before losing against Paolini and her reward is a 14-place surge to a career-high No 28.
Katie Boulter lost in the first round of the Italian Open, but then signed up for the WTA 125K in Paris and won the tournament, leading to a two-place rise to No 38.
The end result is a five-place gap between Boulter and Emma Raducanu in the race for the British No 1 position despite the latter climbing six places to No 43 after reaching the fourth round in Rome.
Collins slipped 11 places to No 46 as she followed up last year’s semi-final with a fourth-round loss in 2025.
Rising star Alex Eala lost in the first round, but she moves up one spot to No 69 due to movement around her while Hailey Batpsite was the biggest jumper as she is up 20 places to No 70 after coming through qualifying to reach the third round.
Victoria Azarenka was the biggest faller in the top 100 as the former world No 1 dropped 19 places to No 73 as she lost in the first round.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,683 points
2. Coco Gauff United States – 6,863
3. Jessica Pegula United States – 6,243
4. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 5,865
5. Iga Swiatek Poland – 5,838
6. Mirra Andreeva – 4,986
7. Madison Keys United States – 4,674
8. Zheng Qinwen China – 4,368
9. Emma Navarro United States – 3,831
10. Paula Badosa Spain – 3,641
11. Diana Shnaider – 3,108
12. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 3,048
13. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 2,905
14. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic – 2,854
15. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic – 2,664
16. Amanda Anisimova United States – 2,634
17. Daria Kasatkina Australia – 2,631
18. Donna Vekic Croatia – 2,226
19. Luidmila Samsonova – 2,150
20. Ekaterina Alexandrova – 2,148
The post WTA Rankings: Gauff No 2, Swiatek’s lowest position since 2022, Boulter and Raducanu battle heats up appeared first on Tennis365.
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