Aryna Sabalenka will contest the 2024 Australian Open final, and thanks to that, she'll also retain the number two rank on the WTA Tour.
Before the Australian Open started, Sabalenka didn't have any chance of getting to the number one spot, but she could have lost her number two spot.
Being the defending champion basically means that the player can't earn any more points but can only retain the points they won last year. Obviously, if the player fails to defend the trophy, they lose points, a lot of points.
By getting to the semi-final, Sabalenka ensured that she defended 780 of the 2000 points she had won the previous year. That didn't put her out of the reach of Coco Gauff, whose own run to the semi-final won her 540 points compared to last year.
That put her within striking distance of Sabalenka, but she needed to win the match to get to number two. If Gauff had won that match, she would have ended up slightly above Sabalenka in the rankings.
The main prize would have obviously been a chance to compete for the Grand Slam trophy, but improving her ranking would have been a nice bonus for the American.
The match didn't go that well for her as Sabalenka won in two sets to send herself into the final. That win also ensured that it remains number two on the ranking. Currently, Sabalenka sits at 8205 points compared to Gauff, who has 7200.
Had Gauff won the match, she would have been at 7720, with a chance to earn even more if she would have won the final, while Sabalenka would have been at 7685. As a result, neither of the Top 3 players is going to move to the new rankings on Monday, regardless of what happens in the final.
Sabalenka could cut the distance between herself and Iga Swiatek to 865 points, should she win the final on Saturday.
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