By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Tuesday January 30 2024
Welcome to the Top 10 Zheng Qinwen!
The 21-year-old Chinese star becomes the second Chinese player to ever hold a Top 10 ranking in this week’s WTA rankings. Zheng, who reached the Australian Open final before falling to champion Aryna Sabalenka, rises eight spots from No.15.
SEE THE FULL WTA RANKINGS TABLE HERE
There were a few other notable shifts in the Top 10, with Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula each rising a spot, while Elena Rybakina, who lost in the second round at Melbourne, dropping the longest tiebreak in Grand Slam history to Anna Blinkova, falls two spots to No.5.
Sabalenka trimmed the distance between herself and World No.1 Iga Swiatek to 865 points as a result of her successful title defense in Melbourne.
Swiatek, who lost in the third round to Linda Noskova, begins her 87th week at No.1, good for 10th on the all-time list.
Ukrainian women on the Rise
A strong Australian Open for the Ukrainian women means some significant rankings jumps for Elina Svitolina, Marta Kostyuk and Dayana Yastremska.
Let’s start with Yastremska, who made the biggest jump in the Top 100, rising 64 spots to No.29 thanks to her trip to the semifinals in Melbourne. 23-year-old Yastremska became the first qualifier to reach the semifinals at the Aussie Open since 1978.
Svitolina rises four spots to No.19, hitting the Top 20 for the first time since March of 2022.
Kostyuk, who reached the last eight at Melbourne, rises nine spots to a career-high ranking of 28, making it three Ukrainian women inside the Top 30.
Breakthroughs for Noskova, Kalinskaya, Andreeva
Some of the top performers at the Australian Open are toting new career-high rankings today.
Noskova, the 19-year-old who stunned Iga Swiatek out of Melbourne, jumps 20 spots to No.30, while Anna Kalinskaya, who reached her maiden major quarterfinal, rises 37 spots to No.38. 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who defeated Ons Jabeur in the second round, jumps 12 spots to No.35.
Jasmine Paolini, (+7 to No.24) and Magdalena Frech (+18 to 51) are also at career-highs.
Timofeeva and Brenda Fruhvirtova reach Top 100
16-year-old Brenda Fruhvirtova and 20-year-old Russian Maria Timofeeva each hit Top 100 debuts this week.
Timofeeva, who upset Caroline Wozniacki and Beatriz Haddad Maia in Melbourne, jumps 70 spots to No.100 after reaching the round of 16 at AO. Fruhvirtova became the fourth active player to make her Top 100 debut at 16 or younger, joining Coco Gauff, Ana Konjuh and Andreeva. She climbed 11 spots to No.96 after netting her first Grand Slam main draw win in Melbourne.