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.
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.
2024 WTA Race to Paris Olympics as of January 8th, 2024:
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Coco Gauff | 5075 |
| 2 | Iga Swiatek | 4860 |
| 3 | Jessica Pegula | 3781 |
| 4 | Aryna Sabalenka | 3755 |
| 5 | Marketa Vondrousova | 3231 |
| 6 | Ons Jabeur | 2837 |
| 7 | Maria Sakkari | 2512 |
| 8 | Elena Rybakina | 2461 |
| 9 | Liudmila Samsonova | 1954 |
| 10 | Madison Keys | 1922 |
| 11 | Qinwen Zheng | 1883 |
| 12 | Daria Kasatkina | 1785 |
| 13 | Jelena Ostapenko | 1586 |
| 14 | Karolina Muchova | 1510 |
| 15 | Caroline Garcia | 1425 |
| 16 | Veronika Kudermetova | 1309 |
| 17 | Beatriz Haddad Maia | 1304 |
| 18 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | 1264 |
| 19 | Barbora Krejcikova | 1208 |
| 20 | Elina Svitolina | 1175 |
| 21 | Jasmine Paolini | 1164 |
| 22 | Emma Navarro | 1158 |
| 23 | Petra Kvitova | 1070 |
| 24 | Marie Bouzkova | 973 |
| 25 | Leylah Fernandez | 954 |
| 26 | Sofia Kenin | 924 |
| 27 | Katerina Siniakova | 922 |
| 28 | Katie Boulter | 858 |
| 29 | Victoria Azarenka | 858 |
| 30 | Xinyu Wang | 846 |
| 31 | Clara Burel | 836 |
| 32 | Sorana Cirstea | 809 |
| 33 | Linda Noskova | 802 |
| 34 | Yue Yuan | 797 |
| 35 | Cristina Bucsa | 786 |
| 36 | Lin Zhu | 785 |
| 37 | Tamara Korpatsch | 772 |
| 38 | Belinda Bencic | 772 |
| 39 | Ana Bogdan | 769 |
| 40 | Donna Vekic | 768 |
| 41 | Elise Mertens | 764 |
| 42 | Caroline Dolehide | 742 |
| 43 | Xiyu Wang | 734 |
| 44 | Arantxa Rus | 719 |
| 45 | Magda Linette | 706 |
| 46 | Ashlyn Krueger | 704 |
| 47 | Viktorija Golubic | 701 |
| 48 | Mirra Andreeva | 698 |
| 49 | Sara Sorribes Tormo | 689 |
| 50 | Tatjana Maria | 686 |
| 51 | Lucia Bronzetti | 677 |
| 52 | Lesia Tsurenko | 672 |
| 53 | Nadia Podoroska | 649 |
| 54 | Zhuoxuan Bai | 649 |
| 55 | Danielle Collins | 640 |
| 56 | Anhelina Kalinina | 625 |
| 57 | Petra Martic | 609 |
| 58 | Diane Parry | 604 |
| 59 | Harriet Dart | 604 |
| 60 | Magdalena Frech | 588 |
| 61 | Renata Zarazua | 584 |
| 62 | Anna Blinkova | 583 |
| 63 | Marina Bassols Ribera | 580 |
| 64 | Alize Cornet | 579 |
| 65 | Jodie Burrage | 571 |
| 66 | Marta Kostyuk | 571 |
| 67 | Aliaksandra Sasnovich | 566 |
| 68 | Martina Trevisan | 557 |
| 69 | Emina Bektas | 554 |
| 70 | Yulia Putintseva | 553 |
| 71 | Viktoriya Tomova | 534 |
| 72 | Brenda Fruhvirtova | 534 |
| 73 | Diana Shnaider | 533 |
| 74 | Anastasia Potapova | 531 |
| 75 | Anna Kalinskaya | 524 |
| 75 | Taylor Townsend | 524 |
| 77 | Arina Rodionova | 523 |
| 78 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 522 |
| 79 | Anna Karolina Schmiedlova | 511 |
| 80 | Yafan Wang | 511 |
| 81 | Sloane Stephens | 499 |
| 82 | Erika Andreeva | 492 |
| 83 | Elisabetta Cocciaretto | 492 |
| 84 | Greet Minnen | 491 |
| 85 | Mai Hontama | 482 |
| 86 | Nao Hibino | 482 |
| 87 | Jaqueline Cristian | 477 |
| 88 | Tamara Zidansek | 467 |
| 89 | Camila Giorgi | 465 |
| 90 | Laura Siegemund | 462 |
| 91 | Claire Liu | 454 |
| 92 | Astra Sharma | 454 |
| 93 | Laura Pigossi | 452 |
| 94 | Kaja Juvan | 452 |
| 95 | Emiliana Arango | 450 |
| 96 | Peyton Stearns | 442 |
| 97 | Yanina Wickmayer | 442 |
| 98 | Dayana Yastremska | 441 |
| 99 | Anna Bondar | 439 |
| 100 | Elizabeth Mandlik | 437 |
0 Comments