WTA Rankings Report – Sept. 21, 2020

ROLAND GARROS – The post-Rome rankings are the ones that Roland Garros will use for seeding purposes.

And while the moves wouldn’t be what they might have been, if not for the special pandemic ranking system, there are still some nice jumps – although not in the top 10.

For one, Svetlana Kuznetsova put herself in a position to be seeded, which is a big plus.

ON THE UPSWING

Elina Svitolina (UKR): No. 6 ==============> No. 5 (The two-time Rome champion made the quarterfinals this year – better than 2019, when she lost her opening match).

Garbiñe Muguruza (ESP): No. 17 ==============> No. 15

Yulia Putintseva (KAZ): No. 30 ==============> No. 27 (She matches her career high with a good run of form since the restart although you’d think she’d have climbed more after US Open quarterfinal, and another quarterfinals in Rome last week).

Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS): No. 38 ==============> No. 33 (The 35-year-old Russian – how can that even be? – has put herself in position to be seeded in Paris).

rankings — *This has been the look on Gauff’s face too often since the restart. A lot of angst and drama.*

Coco Gauff (USA): No. 53==============> No. 51 (The 16-year-old moves up a couple after beating Ons Jabeur in the first round of Rome).

Anna Blinkova (RUS): No. 65 ==============> No. 59 (The 22-year-old Russian is a few spots off her career high after reaching the third round in Rome).

Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP): No. 78 ==============> No. 70 (Sorribes Tormo won the Cagnes-sur-Mer ITF last week).

Daria Kasatkina (RUS): No. 74 ==============> No. 71

Danka Kovinic (MNE): No. 86 ==============> No. 73 (Kovinic has deserved her rise in the last few weeks; she’s done the hard work. She went from losing a third-set tiebreak to Magda Linette at the US Open all the way to Istanbul. There, she got to the quarterfinals and lost a heartbreaker of a marathon – 7-5 in the third set to Genie Bouchard. Then she dashed straight off to Rome to make it in time for the qualifying. Which she did. And then she upset Julia Goerges and Belinda Bencic (neither of whom, to be honest, crushed it that day) before losing in the third round to Elise Mertens. Before the US Open, she was at No. 92).

Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 99 ==============> No. 94 (She’s one off a career best reached just before the pandemic hit in March after beating Sevastova in the first round of Rome).

Aliona Bolsova (ESP): No. 107 ==============> No. 97 (The 27-year-old qualified and won a round in Rome last week, which brought her back into the top 100).

Katarzyna Kawa (POL): No. 131 ==============> No. 128 (Unfortunately, the 27-year-old can’t move up this week; she was withdrawn from the Roland Garros qualifying because of a positive COVID-19 test. As far as we know, she’s the only woman to have tested positive).

Irina Bara (ROU): No. 163 ==============> No. 142 (The 25-year-old, generously listed at 5-foot-4 and looking a decade younger than that on court, reached the final at the $80K ITF at Cagnes-sur-Mer, France last week).

Irina Bara is moving up. (Stephanie Myles/OpenCourt.ca)

Francesca Jones (GBR): No. 277 ==============> No. 256 (The 20-year-old Brit reaches a career high as she went from the qualifying to the semis at a $25K in Tarvisio, Italy last week. That she had to play the qualifying, with that ranking, at a $25K tells you how tough it is to get into tournaments these days).

Federica Di Sarra (ITA): No. 412 ==============> No. 330 (The little known 30-year-old Italian, whose career high of No. 186 came last year, has won a $15K and a $25K in Italy back to back the last two weeks. She has shaved more than 100 spots off her ranking).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Sofia Kenin (USA): No. 5 ==============> No. 6 (The early exit in Rome didn’t hurt her; she drops because Svitolina moved up a bit).

Camila Giorgi (ITA): No. 69==============> No. 74

Venus Williams (USA): No. 70 ==============> No. 75 (It’s not that Venus is playing poorly; but she had the misfortune to run into a buzzsaw named Victoria Azarenka in the first round of Rome).

The Canucks

The picture on the women’s side of things remains fairly bleak on the Canadian scene.

The notable exception is Leylah Fernandez, who will make her French Open main draw debut next week.

Bianca Andreescu retains her ranking and points. But that’s only because of the pandemic ranking system. Without the points from Indian Wells, Miami, Rogers Cup and the US Open from 2019, she’d be outside the top 130.