Elena Rybakina and Iga Swiatek proved to be the most dominant players in the first week of the new WTA season.
Rybakina, who rejoined the top three, demolished the field in Brisbane, including World No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka in the final. She earned maximum points thanks to the WTA aligning its points allocation for the champion in accordance with the tournament category at the 500 level.
Swiatek also received 500 points after a perfect record in singles competition at the United Cup, where she defeated three women ranked in the world's Top 20. The 22-year-old could not push Poland past the finish line after losing the final to Germany but was chosen as the tournament's MVP.
Sabalenka had a great week despite her underwhelming performance in the final in Brisbane. The Belarusian was awarded 325 points, which is enough to lock her place in third place this week. Coco Gauff completed a successful title defense for the first time in her young career.
The 19-year-old won the ASB Classic for a second time and sat in fourth place with 250 ranking points. Fittingly, the four players who dominate the early race are the same ones that sit in the top four positions in the world rankings, although the order is not the same.
The fifth spot was a tie between veteran Victoria Azarenka and 19-year-old Linda Noskova, who made the semifinal in Brisbane. Elina Svitolina was a runner-up in Auckland and took seventh spot.
Mirra Andreeva's stunning run to the quarterfinals of Brisbane earned her 108 points, which ties her with compatriot Anastasia Potapova in 11th place. It is still early days, and the WTA Race will take its customary shape in the next few weeks.
The race serves as a barometer to determine the year-end No. 1 player (which has been won by Swiatek for two years in a row) and the eight women who will qualify for the 2024 WTA Finals.
2024 WTA Race as of January 8th, 2024:
| Rank | Player | Points |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Iga Swiatek | 500 |
| 1 | Elena Rybakina | 500 |
| 3 | Aryna Sabalenka | 325 |
| 4 | Coco Gauff | 250 |
| 5 | Linda Noskova | 195 |
| 5 | Victoria Azarenka | 195 |
| 7 | Elina Svitolina | 163 |
| 8 | Nuria Parrizas-Diaz | 125 |
| 9 | Daria Kasatkina | 108 |
| 9 | Jelena Ostapenko | 108 |
| 9 | Anastasia Potapova | 108 |
| 9 | Mirra Andreeva | 108 |
| 13 | Xiyu Wang | 98 |
| 13 | Emma Navarro | 98 |
| 15 | Caroline Garcia | 95 |
| 16 | Katie Boulter | 90 |
| 16 | Maria Sakkari | 90 |
| 18 | Julia Riera | 85 |
| 19 | Harriet Dart | 81 |
| 20 | Qinwen Zheng | 75 |
| 21 | Ekaterina Makarova | 72 |
| 22 | Moyuka Uchijima | 70 |
| 23 | Talia Gibson | 63 |
| 24 | Lin Zhu | 60 |
| 24 | Elise Mertens | 60 |
| 24 | Magda Linette | 60 |
| 24 | Karolina Pliskova | 60 |
| 24 | Veronika Kudermetova | 60 |
| 24 | Clara Burel | 60 |
| 24 | Arina Rodionova | 60 |
| 24 | Angelique Kerber | 60 |
| 32 | Olivia Gadecki | 57 |
| 33 | Sahaja Yamalapalli | 57 |
| 34 | Varvara Gracheva | 54 |
| 34 | Diane Parry | 54 |
| 34 | Marie Bouzkova | 54 |
| 34 | Petra Martic | 54 |
| 38 | Antonia Ruzic | 50 |
| 38 | Angella Okutoyi | 50 |
| 40 | Katie Volynets | 49 |
| 40 | Clara Tauson | 49 |
| 42 | Brenda Fruhvirtova | 48 |
| 42 | Lulu Sun | 48 |
| 44 | Diana Marcinkevica | 44 |
| 45 | Donna Vekic | 40 |
| 46 | Maya Joint | 36 |
| 47 | Beatriz Haddad Maia | 35 |
| 47 | Jessica Pegula | 35 |
| 47 | Jasmine Paolini | 35 |
| 50 | Sara Saito | 33 |
0 Comments