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There were two (new) WTA Tour events last week, the week before the US Open.

And although most of the top players did not participate, there were still moves to be made.

Notably, Chicago champion Elina Svitolina squeezed past the idle (and Covid-positive right now) Sofia Kenin and into the No. 5 spot in the rankings.

It’s the only change in the top 25.

Of course, after the US Open, there should be a lot of changes.

The Winston-Salem tournament was a great opportunity for some of the lower-ranked players to make a move. And first-time champion Ilya Ivashka was the valedictorian of that class in this week’s updated ATP Tour rankings.

ATP Rankings Report – as of Aug. 30, 2021

ON THE UPSWING

Elina Svitolina (UKR): No. 5 ======> No. 4 (The Ukrainian, coming in as a wild card and the No. 1 seed, takes the Chicago title. It’s the 16th of her career).

Anett Kontaveit (EST): No. 30 ======> No. 28 (With a new coach in Dmitry Tursunov, the Estonian takes the inaugural Cleveland tournament and moves up two spots).

Rebecca Peterson (SWE): No. 59 ======> No. 54 (The Swede makes the Chicago semis).

Alizé Cornet (FRA): No. 68 ======> No. 56 (A nice kickstart for Cornet to make her way back up the rankings, after reaching the final in Chicago. But she has a tough first-round challenge in New York in No. 20 seed Ons Jabeur).

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU): No. 74 ======> No. 63 (The unseeded Cleveland finalist makes a jump).

Varvara Gracheva (RUS): No. 88 ======> No. 82 (A career high for the little-known 21-year-old, who reached the semis in Chicago. She drew qualifier Nuria Parrizas Diaz in the first round of the US Open).

Linda Fruhvirtova (CZE): No. 376 ======> No. 332 (The 16-year-old hits another career high by qualifying and winning a round in Cleveland. Meanwhile, her younger sister Brenda, the No. 13 seed, is in the final of the J1 ITF junior event in College Park, MD).

Françoise Abanda (CAN): No. 361 ======> No. 338 (Winning a round in Chicago was worth 23 spots in the rankings for the Québécoise).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Sofia Kenin (USA): No. 5 ======> No. 6 (Kenin hasn’t played much, or won much. But her ranking hasn’t moved much. She is out of the US Open because of an untimely positive COVID-19 test(.

Laura Siegemund (GER): No. 55 ======> No. 59