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With a 500 and a 250 in the books after last week, there were some very good moves made on the WTA Tour.

Next week’s tournament, the Mutua Madrid Open, doesn’t start until late in the week and runs over.

So you wouldn’t expect rankings next week, on May 2.

Tournament points dropping: 2019 Istanbul, 2019 Stuttgart and the 2019 Anning 125

Points from last September’s re-scheduled Istanbul tournament remain on the books until that date this fall, if they’re better than the points the players earned last week, or (if in the case of Genie Bouchard and Patricia Tig, for example), they didn’t play it at all).

If last week’s points are better, they are added, and the 2020 points drop off.

Got that straight?

For the complete WTA rankings picture, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Kiki Bertens (NED): No. 11 ===========> No. 10 (Bertens hasn’t played much as she struggles to return from Achilles surgery. But she moves past Belinda Bencic because Bencic did drop points last week).

Elise Mertens (BEL): No. 17 ===========> No. 16 (Mertens edges ahead of Iga Swiatek and drops her to No. 17 after the Belgian reached the Istanbul final.. She also won the doubles there with Veronika Kudermetova).

Fiona Ferro (FRA): No. 57 ===========> No. 49 (Ferro retired after losing the first set to eventual champion Sorana Cirstea in the Istanbul quarterfinals, and edges back into the top 50).

rankings — *Cirstea in 2008 when she was her first title, and Sunday in Instanbul when she won her second (Pinterest/WTAtv)*

Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 67 ===========> No. 58 (It feels as though her first title since 2008 in Tashkent should be worth more. But reached the second round when the tournament was played in 2019).

Marta Kostyuk (UKR): No. 85 ===========> No. 77 (The 18-year-old from Ukraine – yes, she’s STILL only 18 – reaches a career high after beating Kasatkina and Konjuh to reach the Istanbul semifinals).

Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER): No. 125 ===========> No. 111 (The German qualified and won a round in Stuttgart).

Valeria Savinykh (RUS): No. 224 ===========> No. 186 (The 30-year-old Russian, whose career high was No. 98, won a $25K in France without losing a set the week of April 13).

Ana Konjuh (CRO): No. 231 ===========> No. 205 (The 23-year-old on the comeback trail puts a few more wins together and is now close to the top 200. She ended 2020 ranked No. 537 and had no ranking at all until she re-appeared on the computer the week of Sept. 28, 2020).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Petra Kvitova (CZE): No. 10 ===========> No. 12 (Kvitova won Stuttgart in 2019, but didn’t defend all those points this year when Elina Svitolina defeated her in the quarterfinals).

Petra Martic (CZE): No. 21 ===========> No. 24 (Martic won Istanbul in 2019, but lost in the first round to Fiona Ferro this year.

Anett Kontaveit (EST): No. 27 ===========> No. 29 (The 2019 Stuttgart finalist (she got a retirement from Victoria Azarenka in the quarters and a walkover from Naomi Osaka in the semis that year – great fortune – made the quarters this year).

Shuai Zhang (CHN): No. 40 ===========> No. 44

Jelena Ostapenko (LAT): No. 48 ===========> No. 50 (Ostapenko is sort of meandering around in the middle regions of the top 100, not doing much of much).

Barbora Strycova (CZE): No. 44 ===========> No. 52 (Strycova is idle, but for a good reason; she’s expecting her first child).

Anastasija Sevastova (LAT): No. 47 ===========> No. 54

Zheng Saisai (CHN): No. 49 ===========> No. 57

Madison Brengle (USA): No. 80 ===========> No. 86

Margarita Gasparyan (RUS): No. 89 ===========> No. 98 (Gasparyan reached the semis of Istanbul in 2019).