Emma Raducanu continued her impressive form on clay as she brushed world No 17 Daria Kasatkina aside in the first round in Strasbourg and it gave her big boost in the battle to reclaim the British No 1 ranking.
Fresh from a run to the fourth round of the Italian Open, Raducanu followed it up with 6-1, 6-3 victory over a player who is 26 places above her in the WTA Rankings.
Having moved up six places to No 43 with her last-16 run in Rome, the 22-year-old is now on the cusp of a return to inside the top 30 as she climbed another two places in the Live Rankings to No 41 after the win over the sixth seed.
And there is an opportunity to move even higher as the Strasbourg event is a WTA 500 tournament so a lot of points are on offer.
Raducanu doesn’t have any points to defend at the French event and she is guaranteed to earn 60 points for reaching the second round, which puts her on 1,319 points after the Kasatkina win.
Up next is a much tougher assignment as she faces Danielle Collins, but if she gets past the American and reaches the quarter-final she will move to 1,367 points, which is not good enough for another move up the rankings as Elina Avanesyan is ahead of her on 1,380 points.
Only a run to the semi-final is good for another boost as she would earn 195 points in total and that would put her on 1,454.
Battle To Be British No 1
Does that mean she moves ahead of Katie Boulter and takes over as British No 1?
Not yet as Boulter is currently at No 38 on 1,456 with her decision to play in the WTA 125K Trophee Clarins proving to be a smart move.
After a disappointing first-round defeat at the Italian Open, Boulter dropped down a level and won the title in Paris – her first trophy on clay – to collect 125 ranking points, which helped her to move up two places.
But she is not in action this week as she has already switched focus to the French Open.
WTA News
Emma Raducanu secures WTA Rankings boost with dominant Daria Kasatkina win in Strasbourg
Boulter, though, remains favourite to be the British No 1 at Roland Garros as Raducanu can only overtake her if she reaches the final. Finishing runner-up (325 points) or winning the title (500 points) would see her surpass her fellow Brit.
But there is a third name in the race to be the top British woman after the clay-court Grand Slam as Sonay Kartal is now part of the conversation.
Kartal moved up three places in the rankings to No 53 on Monday and it will be a shootout between the trio with the player who goes furthest in Paris likely to be the British No 1 after the tournament.
The 23-year-old Kartal – who started the year at No 87 – does have a big disadvantage as she sits on 1,055 points.
There is good news for the three British players as they don’t have points to defend at Roland Garros as Raducanu and Kartal didn’t feature last year and Boulter lost in the first round.
The post Emma Raducanu edges closer to No 1 spot as Sonay Kartal makes it a three-way battle appeared first on Tennis365.
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