WTA Rankings Winners & Losers Australian Open: Aryna Sabalenka holds off Iga Swiatek; Madison Keys +9

The battle for the post-Australian Open No 1 spot has been settled with Aryna Sabalenka holding firm while there were several big winners lower down the WTA Rankings.

With Sabalenka beating Paula Badosa in the first semi-final of the opening Grand Slam of the year, the pressure was on Swiatek to beat Madison Keys to take the battle to a shootout in the final.

But American Keys upset the world No 2 to reach her maiden Australian Open final.

Sabalenka has been top of the rankings since she overtook her Polish rival in October last year, but Swiatek moved ahead of her in the Live Rankings at the start of the tournament as the three-time Grand Slam winner dropped 2,000 points as the defending champion.

WTA Top 10 Before Australian Open

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,656 points
2. Iga Swiatek Poland – 8,120
3. Coco Gauff United States – 6,888
4. Jasmine Paolini Italy – 5,399
5. Zheng Qinwen China – 5,325
6. Jessica Pegula United States – 4,801
7. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 4,723
8. Emma Navarro United States – 3,409
9. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic – 3,214
10. Daria Kasatkina – 3,151

Sabalenka thus had to make her way back up to 9,656 points during the campaign and she dealt well with the pressure as she moved to 8,956 on the back of her win over Badosa.

With Swiatek failing to move past the semi-final, she will leave Melbourne with 8,770 points.

Coco Gauff and Jasmine Paolini will remain third and fourth respectively while Elena Rybakina will move up two places to No 5 and last year’s runner-up Zheng Qinwen is set to drop two spots to No 7 after her early exit.

There are two top-10 returnees with Keys – a former world No 7 – set to climb eight places to No 8 after reaching her second Grand Slam final. She could return to No 7 if she wins the title on Saturday.

Badosa is up two places to No 10.

WTA Top 10 Ahead Of Australian Open Final

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,956/9,656
2. Iga Swiatek – 8,770
3. Coco Gauff – 6,538
4. Jasmine Paolini – 5,289
5. Elena Rybakina – 4,893
6. Jessica Pegula – 4,861
7. Zheng Qinwen – 4,095
8. Madison Keys – 3,980
9. Emma Navarro – 3,709
10. Paula Badosa – 3,608

Reigning Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova was the big loser from the top 10 as she will drop five places after withdrawing from the tournament due to injury while Yulia Putintseva is set to make her top 20 debut after reaching the third round at Melbourne Park.

The Winners

The biggest winner was Belinda Bencic as the former world No 4 entered the tournament using her Protected Ranking as she only recently returned to the WTA Tour after giving birth to her first child, a girl, last year.