WTA Rankings – Badosa climbs to No 2 while Swiatek affirms No 1 status

Last year at this time, Paula Badosa was well outside the top 50 (62 to be precise) and still very much an unproven commodity on the WTA Tour. Fast forward 52 weeks and Badosa isn’t just an an elite force on tour – she’s a card-carrying member of the WTA’s top 2.

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Badosa: A dream come true at No 2

The 24-year-old rises to No 2 in Monday’s rankings, thanks to her semifinal appearance at Stuttgart, which was her seventh semifinal in the last 52 weeks.

“It was a goal and I really wanted to be in that position,” Badosa said last week. “For me, it’s a dream come true.”

Badosa leapfrogs Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic. Krejcikova, the 2021 Roland-Garros champion, has been out of action since February with an elbow injury – she drops to No 3.

Swiatek – No 1 with a prolonged exclamation point

It’s Iga Swiatek’s WTA Tour at the moment, and everybody else is vying for second-best. Swiatek continued her spotless tennis with another title run last week in Stuttgart, which allows her to stretch her lead atop the WTA rankings table to over 2,100 points (2,136 if you’re scoring at home).

Swiatek, who has reeled off 23 wins in succession since she took the court in Doha in February, locked down her seventh career title on Sunday, defeating world No 4 Aryna Sabalenka in the final, 6-2, 6-2. The first Polish player to ever hold the No 1 ranking begins her fourth week at No 1 this week. It looks like she will stay there for a while.

There were no other changes inside the WTA’s top10.

Raducanu hits a career-high again

British No 1 Emma Raducanu held her own against Swiatek in Stuttgart, falling 6-4, 6-4 to the world No 1 in the quarterfinals in her first WTA main draw on clay. The 19-year-old rises one spot to No 11 in the rankings, and sits just 218 points behind world No 10 Ons Jabeur in the rankings.

It’s important to note that Raducanu was ranked well outside the top-300 this time last year. It has been a remarkable rise.

Potapova this week’s biggest riser

Russia’s Anastasia Potapova is the biggest climber in this week’s WTA rankings. The 21-year-old former junior No 1 became the first woman to claim her maiden WTA title in 2022 this week at Istanbul, defeating compatriot Veronika Kudermetova, 6-3, 6-1, in the final.

Potapova rises 44 spots to No 78, returning to the top-100 for the first time since February, and rising 14 spots from her career-high ranking of 64.

New career-high ranking for Samsonova

Liudmila Samsonova nearly pulled the upset of the tournament in the semi-finals. The Russian snapped Iga Swiatek’s run of 28 consecutive sets won, but ultimately fell in three tight sets to the eventual champion. But it was still a strong week for Samsonova, who jumps five spots to a career-best ranking of No 26.

Samsonova, 23, had not made her top-100 debut at this point last year.

There are a total of five new career-high rankings this Monday:

• Paula Badosa | + 1 | No 2
• Emma Raducanu | + 1 | No 11
• Liudmila Samsonova | + 5 | No 26
• Anna Bondar | + 4 | No 68
• Lucia Bronzetti | + 8 | No 80

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