Iga Swiatek will be the World No. 1 and the top seed at the 2023 US Open following Aryna Sabalenka's early exit at the Canadian Open.
The chase on who would head to the final Grand Slam of the season as the No. 1 player became such a hot topic for the statisticians who pulled up every possible permutation between the Canadian Open and Cincinnati tournaments for the world's top two.
Even though Swiatek guaranteed herself at least one more week at the top of the charts last night when she defeated Karolina Muchova to advance into the last eight in Montreal, it wasn't a done deal for the US Open. Sabalenka still had the chance to usurp her.
But that was until 24 hours later, the Belarusian took to the court following Thursday's suspension of matches due to rain, and where she succumbed to a costly defeat at the hands of Liudmila Samsonova in a near three-hour humdinger.
Sabalenka's third-round defeat in Montreal means that even with a title win in Cincinnati next week, she would be able to get a maximum of 9,296 points, which would still not be enough to eclipse Swiatek's current points tally of 9,570 (by reaching the last eight in Montreal).
Swiatek had punctured the Top 10 list of players with the most weeks at No. 1 this week when she tied Caroline Wozniacki at 71 weeks. Well, she's expected to tally at least 75 weeks, during the fortnight at Flushing Meadows, putting her in solitary company in 10th place.
Swiatek's next target this week will be to take the lead in the WTA Race, which accounts for points earned in the current season. She is currently behind Sabalenka who is top with 6,560 points (Swiatek has 6,155) but could eclipse the Belarusian if she managed to win the title in Canada.
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