WTA Race Update: Swiatek And Rybakina Put Pressure On Leader Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka has now led the WTA Race for an entire month, but she is feeling enormous pressure from those below her.

The Belarusian captured her second Grand Slam at last month's Australian Open to take control of the race and has not been knocked off from the summit for the whole of February. Sabalenka has compiled 2,335 points from three tournaments in 2024.

However, Iga Switek and Elena Rybakina moved within touching distance of the race leader after the conclusion of the Middle East swing. World No. 1 Swiatek completed a rare three-peat at the Qatar Open and was a semifinalist in Dubai. She is in third spot with 2,020 points.

Rybakina, meanwhile, reached successive finals in Abu Dhabi and Doha, winning the title in the former. She has tallied 2,043 points and ranks second in the race. China's Qinwen Zheng has dropped to fourth place, with the bulk of her 1,710 points coming from her shock runner-up finish in Melbourne.

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Jelena Ostapenko, like Rybakina, is a double champion this season and sits in fifth spot. Italy's Jasmine Paolini won her first WTA 1000 title at the Dubai Championships and soared an astonishing 25 places in the race to a high of sixth.

Paolini's exploits in the Gulf push Coco Gauff down to seventh, with Dubai runner-up Anna Kalinskaya sitting cozily in eighth, which is normally the last coveted spot for those players seeking to qualify for the WTA Finals.

Dayana Yastremska and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova round up the Top 10. Czech teenager Linda Noskova is the youngest player in the Top 20 of the race, occupying 13th place, ranking ahead of the likes of Victoria Azarenka, Barbora Krejcikova, and Elina Svitolina.

The WTA Race will determine not just the year-end No. 1 but also the eight players who will play at the WTA Finals. The venue for this year's tournament has not been named despite increasing speculation it will be held in Saudi Arabia for the first time.

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2024 WTA Race as of February 26, 2024: