Iga Swiatek has established daylight in the WTA Race thanks to her mammoth win over Aryna Sabalenka in the Madrid Open final.
Swiatek defeated the Belarusian powerhouse in an epic match that lasted over three hours. She saved three points to snatch the title from Sabalenka’s grasp. With her first Madrid title success, the Pole received the full 1000 points.
That brings her total in this year’s race to 4335. Interstingly, Swiatek has steadily built her tally with three WTA 1000 wins in Doha, Indian Wells, and, more recently, Madrid.
Elena Rybakina retained second spot ahead of Sabalenka. The Kazakh lost a classic semifinal against the World No. 2, but Madrid leaves with a 308-point lead over Sabalenka.
Danielle Collins‘ 15-match undefeated streak came to an end in the Spanish capital, but she is still ranked fourth in the race. The American has never qualified for the year-end WTA Finals, and with this being her final season, she has put herself in contention to debut in Riyadh.
Coco Gauff (5th) continues to stumble on European clay. The 20-year-old has not progressed beyond the quarterfinal in each of her last three tournaments and hasn’t narrowed the gap to the top four.
Qinwen Zheng stays in sixth with the bulk of her 1855 points coming from reaching her maiden Grand Slam final at the Australian Open. Jasmine Paolini and Marta Kostyuk occupy the final two spots in the top eight, which is the cut-off entry for the WTA Finals.
Jelena Ostapenko and Daria Kasatkina round out the Top 10. Maria Sakkari, Victoria Azarenka, Anna Kalinskaya, Emma Navarro, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova could each break the Top 10 by the end of the Italian Open.
Dayana Yastremska, Linda Noskova, and Katie Boulter are some of the surprise names occupying a Top 20 spot in the race. But Jessica Pegula (19th) has endured a disappointing year so far because of injuries and is in danger of missing out on WTA Finals qualification.
