It is a case of “as you were” in the top 10 of the WTA Rankings, but Jessica Pegula was the big winner following her title run at the Korea Open.
World No 1 Aryna Sabalenka as well as Iga Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Elena Rybakina, Marketa Vondrousova and Karolina Muchova didn’t compete the past week although Gauff, Rybakina and Muchova were sidelined by injury as they withdrew from the Zhengzhou Open.
It meant Pegula was the highest-ranked player in action and the American made the most of the opportunity to close the gap to third-placed Gauff in the rankings as she won the WTA 250 trophy in Seoul, beating Yuan Yue 6-2, 6-3 in the final.
World No 4 Pegula is now just 405 points adrift of her compatriot with Elena Rybakina another 180 points behind in fifth place.
Above them Sabalenka leads Swiatek by 927 points and both players – along with the rest of the top eight – will only return to action in a fortnight at the WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico. Swiatek will have an opportunity to beat Sabalenka to the year-end No 1 ranking.
Outside the top 10, Barbora Krejcikova moved up five places to No 13 following her runners-up finish at the Zhengzhou Open. Krejcikova was beaten 2–6, 6–2, 6–4 by Zheng Qinwen in the final with the result helping the Chinese star to move back into the top 20 as she climbed five places to No 19.
Leylah Fernandez was the other title winner on the WTA Tour over the weekend as the Canadian defeated Katerina Siniakova 3–6, 6–4, 6–4 in the Hong Kong Open final to lift her third WTA singles trophy and first of the 2023 season. As a result, Fernandez surged 17 places to No 43 to return to the top 50 for the first time since May.
“We had a very, very hard past couple of years,” Fernandez, who has struggled with injury since Roland Garros last year, said. “My family, my parents, my coach, and my performance coach stayed by my side.
“They motivated me to keep going and the hard work is paying off. Hopefully, we can keep going this way.”
Katie Boulter remains the top-ranked Brit as she sits at No 53 with Jodie Burrage at No 89.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,381 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland 8,454
3. Coco Gauff United States 6,455
4. Jessica Pegula United States 6,050
5. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan 5,870
6. Maria Sakkari Greece 4,475
7. Ons Jabeur Tunisia 4,195
8. Marketa Vondrousova Czech Republic 3,839
9. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic 3,663
10. Caroline Garcia France 3,450
11. Daria Kasatkina – 2,195
12. Madison Keys United States 2,841
13. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic 2,775
14. Jelena Ostapenko Latvia 2,665
15. Petra Kvitova Czech Republic 2,660
16. Belinda Bencic Switzerland 2,605
17. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,595
18. Veronika Kudermetova – 2,550
19. Zheng Qinwen China 2,275
20. Victoria Azarenka – 2,225
