The latest showdown between Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek is set.<\/p>\n
A rallying 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory for Swiatek<\/a> over Madison Keys powered the world No 2 into the Madrid Open semi-final, where world No 4 Gauff<\/a> awaits after a 7-5, 6-1 triumph against Mirra Andreeva.<\/p>\n It will be the 15th meeting between the two Grand Slam champions, and while Swiatek has a comfortable head-to-head lead, it would be unwise to rule Gauff out.<\/p>\n The American trails 3-11 in their head-to-head but has won the last two times the pair have met, beating the Pole in the 2024 WTA Finals and at the United Cup back in January.<\/p>\n Swiatek will be determined to regain full control of their rivalry and ultimately reach a third straight Madrid Open final, with the second seed looking to defend her title in the Caja Magica.<\/p>\n However, there is more than just a place in the final at stake, with this semi-final proving crucial when it comes to the WTA Rankings.<\/p>\n The 9 women to bagel Iga Swiatek: Madison Keys the first since 2021<\/a><\/p>\n Aryna Sabalenka\u2019s impressive Madrid Open record that only Serena Williams can beat<\/a><\/p>\n Coming into the tournament, Swiatek was the world No 2, comfortably ahead of world No 3 Jessica Pegula and world No 4 Gauff.<\/p>\n However, with 1,000 ranking points to defend as the defending champion, there was plenty of pressure on the five-time champion coming into Madrid.<\/p>\n In contrast, Gauff only had fourth-round points to defend while Pegula had no points to defend, having skipped the event due to injury back in 2024.<\/p>\n Potentially, both US stars could have moved above Swiatek in the WTA Rankings, though that possibility has now been ruled out.<\/p>\n Pegula was unexpectedly beaten in round three by Moyuka Uchijima and will hold 6,273 ranking points come next Monday (May 5).<\/p>\n And, Gauff\u2019s quarter-final victory over Andreeva has boosted her haul of ranking points by 270, moving up to 6,343 ranking points.<\/p>\n That means Gauff is guaranteed to be back as the US No 1 come next Monday\u2019s ranking update, no matter how she fares throughout the rest of the tournament.<\/p>\n In the live rankings, Swiatek is still dropping 610 points and falling to 6,773, though she remains as the world No 2 for now.<\/p>\n Gauff was briefly ranked as the world No 2 last summer, and the equation for her to return to that ranking in Madrid is quite simple.<\/p>\n To overtake Swiatek in the rankings next week, she needs to win the title; if she does not do that, she will be the world No 3<\/p>\n If Gauff were to win her semi-final against Swiatek, she would hold 6,603 ranking points \u2013 though that would not be enough to overtake her rival.<\/p>\n However, if the American were to claim the title, she would hold 6,953 points, ahead of Swiatek\u2019s total of 6,773 after a hypothetical semi-final loss.<\/p>\n Swiatek can guarantee she stays at world No 2 with victory in the semi-final.<\/p>\n The Pole will hold 7,033 points if she finishes the tournament as the runner-up, and 7,383 points \u2013 her current tally \u2013 if she successfully defends her title.<\/p>\n However, she will remain well behind world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who holds 10,333 points ahead of her quarter-final \u2013 and would hold a staggering 11,118 points if she were to win the title.<\/p>\n Read Next<\/strong>:\u00a05 sublime Iga Swiatek stats as she reaches Madrid Open semi-finals: ft. Serena Williams & Steffi Graf<\/a><\/p>\n The post Coco Gauff vs Iga Swiatek: Huge rankings ramifications set ahead of Madrid semi-final<\/a> appeared first on Tennis365<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The latest showdown between Coco Gauff and Iga Swiatek is set. A rallying 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory for Swiatek over Madison Keys powered the world No 2 into the Madrid Open semi-final, where world No 4 Gauff awaits after a 7-5, 6-1 triumph against Mirra Andreeva. It will be the 15th meeting between the two […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-384","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=384"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/384\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=384"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=384"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tennisring.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=384"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Madrid Open News<\/h2>\n
As it stands<\/h4>\n
What does Gauff need to become world No 2?<\/h4>\n