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There was no full-blown WTA Tour event going on last week.

Rather, there were 125K tournaments in Charleston, S.C. on Har-Tru and in Belgrade, on red clay.

And this week, there is just the one WTA 500 tournament in San Jose, as four players (three of them Americans, one TBA) opt to skip it in favour of some exhibition fun in Washington, D.C.

So there is no change in the top 20 other than Victoria Azarenka dropping a seemingly random 20 points and drops behind Jennifer Brady to No. 15, as Brady moves up to No. 14.

ATP Tour Rankings Report – as of Aug. 2, 2021

You have to get down into the 60s before there are some significant moves, as the points from the 2019 Citi Open women’s event (and San Jose as well) drop off.

And since D.C. is no more (technically, it’s now the Gdynia clay event that took place the week before the Olympics), there’s no way to defend those points.

ON THE UPSWING

Arantxa Rus (NED): No. 85 ==========> No. 79 (A final at the 125K in Belgrade moves Rus up a few notches).

Andrea Petkovic (GER): No. 97 ==========> No. 61 (Petkovic reached the semis in Belgrade, losing to Rus)

Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK): No. 122 ==========> No. 99 (Too late for direct entry into the US Open, but the Slovak gets back into the top 100 by winning the Belgrade Ladies Open)

*Schmiedlova is a bit of a confounding player – capable of almost anything when she’s right, but also of egregiously expeditious losses. Last week was a great week.*

Varvara Lepchenko (USA): No. 152 ==========> No. 126 (The former No. 19, now 35 years old (!!!) moves up after winning the 125K in Charleston, S.C. last week).

Ekaterine Gorgodze (GEO): No. 185 ==========> No. 164 (She won a $60K ITF in Poland last week, over Chloe Paquet in the final)

Rebecca Sramkova (SVK): No. 203 ==========> No. 187 (Sramkova, 24, made the semis in Belgrade last week).

Kateryna Bondarenko (UKR): No. 208 ==========> No. 189 (Bondarenko is back in the top 200 after making the Charleston semifinals last week. It’s as high as she’s been since Jan. 2019, before she went off on her second career maternity leave).

*Bondarenko with her husband, sister Alyona and first daughter at Indian Wells a few years ago. She’s since had another daughter and returned to the Tour.*

Jamie Loeb (USA): No. 229 ==========> No. 192 (The 26-year-old American jumps into the top 200 with a final at the Charleston 125K).

Chloe Paquet (FRA): No. 247 ==========> No. 195 (One of a number of French players in their mid-20s making moves this summer. Paquet is 27; she reached the final at a $60K in Poland, losing to Gorgodze).

Federica Di Sarra (ITA): No. 275 ==========> No. 234 (The obscure 31-year-old Italian reached the final of a $60K in Germany last week, and is at a career high).

Elina Avanesyan (RUS): No. 512 ==========> No. 377 (A leap of 177 points for the Russian, just 18, after going from the qualifying to the title at the $60K ITF in Vermold, Germany. We’ll keep an eye on her to see if she’s one to watch. She doesn’t have a junior ranking at the moment, but reached No. 32 back in Jan. 2020 and beat several of the current junior hot shots before she ended her junior career at Roland Garros last fall).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Camila Giorgi (ITA): No. 61 ==========> No. 71 (Giorgi reached the final at the Citi Open in D.C. in 2019 (before they started moving that tournament around; there’s actually no way for her to even defend those points this year, really).

Zheng Saisai (CHN): No. 52 ==========> No. 76 (Zheng, who won the San Jose tournament in 2019 beating Watson, Collins, Anisimova, Sakkari and Sabalenka in a heck of a week, drops all those points. And this being an Olympic year, she is one of the Chinese players who disappeared after Roland Garros and will have another gap after the Games, where she lost in the first round to Naomi Osaka).

Patricia Maria Tig (ROU): No. 76 ==========> No. 90 (Tig, who could have played the Olympics but, like most Romanians, did not, won a 125K in Karlsruhe Germany in 2019. That event has been shifted to the second week of the US Open this year).

rankings — *Patricia Tig reached a career high after pulling out the title in Istanbul against Genie Bouchard in 2019.*

Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 91 ==========> No. 96 (Paolini made the semifinals of that rescheduled 125K tournament in Karlsruhe in 2019).

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN): No. 129 ==========> No. 131 (Really just accounting at this point, since Bouchard is a ways away from coming back to the pros after shoulder surgery).

Anna Kalinskaya (RUS): No. 113 ==========> No. 133 (Kalinskaya went from the qualifying to the semis at the Citi Open in 2019, losing to Jessica Pegula).

Caty McNally (USA): No. 117 ==========> No. 134 (This young one is so talented, it’s pretty surprising that she’s sort of languishing outside the top 100 in the rankings, still. She made the semifinals of the Citi Open in 2019, at age 17, ranked No. 150 and with a wild card. This week she’s in San Jose).

Kristie Ahn (USA): No. 126 ==========> No. 138 (Ahn was on a nice run two years ago, making the semis of a $60K in Berkley and following it up with a run from the qualies to the quarters in San Jose – all home territory for the former Stanford standout. A few weeks later, she made the fourth round of the US Open. All those 2019 points are falling now, so this is a pretty key period for her).

*Vandeweghe is still making her way back from a couple of major injuries.*

Coco Vandeweghe (USA): No. 151 ==========> No. 162 (Vandeweghe made the second round of San Jose in 2019, her first tournament back after dealing with a baffling injury. She was ranked No. 636 at the time and worked her way back up on the ITF Circuit. She’s still working her way back, after a nasty exploding glass incident involving a microwave last summer at World Team Tennis).

Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP): No. 205 ==========> No. 272 (It won’t matter too much, as Suárez Navarro is seeing out the season – and her career – with a protected ranking. But still can’t be fun to see that number next to your name).

It’s crazy that it’s already been five years since Monica Puig’s glorious run to Olympic gold in Rio. At the moment, she’s facing a long road back from elbow and shoulder injuries, and surgery.

Monica Puig (PUR): No. 268 ==========> No. 289 (The 2016 Olympic champion was dethroned, in a way, by Belinda Bencic over the weekend. But after shoulder and elbow issues she won’t be back this year – at the very earliest).

Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA): No. 272 ==========> No. 324 (The 36-year-old American mostly focuses on doubles these days. But she remains a very viable singles player, who will have more trouble getting into tournaments as her ranking drops).