Caroline Wozniacki Reclaims World No 1 Ranking, Leander Paes Returns to Top-50
Caroline Wozniacki won the Australian Open on Saturday to open her majors account with a three set win over Simona Halep. The Dane who had previously held the No 1 ranking in October, 2010 returns to the pinnacle of women’s tennis following the win in Melbourne. Meanwhile, Romanian Halep slips to World No 2 with a third unsuccessful attempt at winning a major singles title.
“I think being a new Grand Slam champion and world No. 1 sounds pretty good,” Wozniacki said. “I’m very excited for that. It’s a dream come true.” Wozniacki’s six year period between the two top rankings beats Serena Williams’ record (5 years, 29 days) for the longest span between losing and regaining the top ranking on the WTA Tour.
In other changes in the WTA Rankings, Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina moved up one place to No. 3, switching places with Wimbledon champion Garbine Muguruza. Angelique Kerber’s run to the Australian Open semifinals, coming off her first title since the 2016 US Open when she won the Sydney International earlier, earned the former No. 1 a spot in the top 10 as she jumped seven places to No 9.
Among the biggest movers at the top of the order is Belgium’s Elise Mertens after her impressive run to the semifinals at Melbourne Park, improving from No. 37 to No. 20. She lost to Wozniacki in the last-4.
Paes back in top-50
India’s stalwart Leander Paes once again entered the top-50 of the doubles rankings after winning the ATP Challenger tournament in Newport Beach. He jumped 14 places to No. 47 in the rankings that were issued on Monday. Paes played alongside America’s James Cerretani in Newport Beach and earned 125 ranking points with the title. Next up on his schedule is a challenger in Dallas where he will partner with Briton Joe Salisbury.
Rohan Bopanna continues to be the top-ranked Indian and dropped a place to No. 20 after a first round exit at the Australian Open where he partnered with Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Divij Sharan is up next at World No 45 – a career best – after reaching the pre-quarters in Melbourne.
In singles, Yuki Bhambri who qualified for the main draw, but lost to Marcos Baghdatis, gained eight places to move to No. 118. Bhambri is followed by Ramkumar Ramanathan (140, +1), Sumit Nagal (218, -1), Prajnesh Gunneswran (244, +3) and N Sriram Balaji (391, +2).
Cilic up to career high No 3
Marin Cilic pushed Roger Federer to five sets in the Australian Open final. (Source: Reuters)
Despite winning a second succesive Australian Open, Roger Federer will remain World No 2 and trail the top-ranked Rafa Nadal. But that deficit has been reduced to just 155 points. However, finalist Marin Cilic moved three places to a carer best World No 3 – leapfrogging Grigor Dimitrov, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem.
Stan Wawrinka’s early exit from the Australian Open resulted in him dropping out of the top-10 and in to World No. 15. On the other side, semifinalists Kyle Edmund jumped 29 places (to World No. 26) and Hyeon Chung climbed 29 places and inside the top-50 (to World No . 29).
Courtesy : indianexpress
