Gauff Remains Top Of Olympics Race After Successful Title Defense In Auckland

Coco Gauff kept her pace at the top of the WTA Olympics Race to Paris after defending a tour-level title for the first time in her young career last weekend.

Gauff dropped just one set at the 2024 ASB Classic, where she ran roughshod over the field and collected the seventh WTA title of her career. Sunday's hard-fought three-set win over Elina Svitolina gave Gauff 250 ranking points, enabling her to remain ahead of Iga Swiatek.

The 19-year-old has now accumulated 5,045 points since June 12th, 2023, when the Olympics Race came into effect. Most of her points were earned during that fruitful period at the US swing last summer. Gauff won three titles, including a maiden Grand Slam at the US Open.

Swiatek is in hot pursuit of the young American. The Polish star is in second place after clocking 500 points from the United Cup, where she went undefeated in singles matches. She has a total of 4,860 points ahead of the 2024 Australian Open.

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Jessica Pegula is in third place, just beating Aryna Sabalenka narrowly. The 29-year-old Buffalo native can garner a maximum of 500 points in Adelaide, where she competes this week. Marketa Vondrousova and Elena Rybakina also belong in the Top 10.

Sabalenka is in the dark about whether she will compete at the Olympics because of the ITF rule contradicting the International Olympic Committee's decision to lift the ban imposed on Russian and Belarusian players.

Ons Jabeur is the sole African player in the Top 56. The two-time Wimbledon finalist sits in sixth spot. China's Qinwen Zheng has already qualified for the tournament as a result of winning a gold medal at the Asian Games.

The United States has as many as eight players in the Top 56 but can only choose from their best four ranked players to play at the Olympics. It will be an interesting six months with the likes of Madison Keys, Emma Navarro, Sofia Kenin, and Caroline Dolehide all in the running to join Gauff and Pegula, who are almost certain to qualify.

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2024 WTA Race to Paris Olympics as of January 8th, 2024: