–

INDIAN WELLS, Calif. – A lot of drama this past week, with Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska, who went boat and car and train and plane from Odessa to Lyon, France, made her way to the WTA Tour final.

And in Monterrey, Canadian Leylah Fernandez was looking to defend her first career WTA Tour title in Monterrey.

So as the clock ticks down to the big event at Indian Wells, a few moves were made.

It’s a hectic week, as a lot of points fall off: Monterrey in 2020 and 2021, Lyon in 2020 and 2021. And, as well, the Indian Wells Challenger from both 2019 and 2020 (not defunct).

(For the full WTA updated rankings, click here).

ON THE UPSWING

Angelique Kerber (GER): No. 18 =========> No. 16 (An idle week, but a two-spot jump)

Coco Gauff (USA): No. 19 =========> No. 17 (Gauff didn’t do a thing last week. But the fact that Elina Svitolina and Jessica Pegula dropped points gave her a two-spot bump.

Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 30 =========> No. 27 (Cirstea has moved things up nicely after a few years in the netherworld around 40-60 in the world. She moves up three more, and inside the top 30, after her semifinal effort in Lyon).

Camila Osorio (COL): No. 44 =========> No. 35 (It’s a fairly … stunning thing that someone with a serve as weak as Osorio’s finds herself in the top 35 in the world. But it what it is. And her battling skills have served her well even as she’s only just 20; she is very much more than the sum of her parts. It’s another career high).

Zhang Shuai (CHN): No. 64 =========> No. 41 (Known more for her doubles prowess in recent years – she and Samantha Stosur made the WTA Tour finals last fall – the 33-year-old proved she still has it in singles by winning in Lyon. Not only did she spoil the happy ending of the inspirational story of Dayana Yastremska, she also bagged her fourth title – her first since Ghangzhou in 2017).

Nuria Parrizas Diaz (ESP): No. 51 =========> No. 45 (It’s another career high for the 30-year-old Spaniard, with a semifinal in Monterrey. And all that shortly after breaking up – both personally and professionally – with her boyfriend/coach. Together, the two turned Parrizas Diaz from a never-was struggling to break into the top 200, to a top-50 player).

Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA): No. 69 =========> No. 61 (The tall Brazilian lefty took another step in her comeback from nowhere, after a doping suspension. After her effort in Monterrey, she is just three spots shy of her career-high ranking, reached long before all of that, in 2017).

Caroline Garcia (FRA): No. 74 =========> No. 66 (Garcia, in her home-city event, managed to fight her way to the semifinals and make a nice little jump).

Dayana Yastremska (UKR): No. 140 =========> No. 103 (Yastremska showed her heart last week in Lyon, almost getting to the title but falling just short as a wild card. But she did her ranking a lot of good. And the reward was that Indian Wells offered her a wild card once Naomi Osaka got into the main draw on her own ranking, and no longer needed it).

Rebecca Marino (CAN): No. 142 =========> No. 123 (A title at the $60K ITF in Arcadia, Calif. Sunda was worth almost 20 spots for Marino. Unfortunately it came too late to get into the Indian Wells qualifying, so she’ll play a $60K in Mexico. But she’s in good shape for the Miami qualies and is clearly on the upswing).

Alycia Parks (USA): No. 169 =========> No. 152 (The American jumps to another career high after making the ITF $60K final in Arcadia, where she lost to Marino. At 21, she is finally making some leaps and turning herself into a player. She made the Australian Open qualifying for the first time in January. Unfortunately, she lost in the first round of Indian Wells qualifying).

Katie Swan (GBR): No. 255 =========> No. 213 (The 22-year-old Brit is putting up results and slowly getting her ranking back up after an injury timeout. She won a $25K in Santo Domingo, and then made the quarterfinals the next week).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Elina Svitolina (UKR): No. 15 =========> No. 18 (Svitolina loses a tough one in the quarterfinals in Monterrey to Camila Osorio, a match she appeared to have well in hand. It might cost her a top 16 seed at Indian Wells and make a difference in the end, but probably not much of one. She’s still the No. 12 seed)

Clara Tauson (DEN): No. 40 =========> No. 47 (Tauson didn’t play this week, so her defence of her run from the qualies to the title in Lyon a year ago didn’t happen, thus dropping her seven spots).

Viktorija Golubic (SUI): No. 36=========> No. 51 (Golubic, who lost in the second round in Lyon, loses a TON of points this week – 345 in all from her qualifying-to-final run in Lyon last year and her Indian Wells Challenger title in 2019. She’s probably lucky the damage wasn’t more significant, although she is not out of the top 50).

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU): No. 56 =========> No. 72 (Begu didn’t play last week, and drops the points from her win at the Indian Wells Challenger in 2020).

Marie Bouzkova (CZE): No. 81 =========> No. 97 (Tough for Bouzkova, the personable Czech who had such a good two weeks in Guadalajara and Monterrey. She made the quarterfinals (losing a heart-breaker to Haddad Maia after 3h21 in Monterrey last week. And she she made the Guadajalara final. But in the end, her points from the final in Monterrey in 2020 fall off.

Sofia Kenin (USA): No. 89 =========> No. 130 (Kenin’s fall in the rankings continues as she didn’t play a tournament last week. And all the points from her title in Lyon in 2020 – under rather dramatic circumstances – fall off. Instead, she played a hit-and-giggle exhibition in California Saturday and lost a 6-1 set to Genie Bouchard – who hadn’t played an actual set in nearly a year. It’s not a great time to be Kenin, but she’ll bounce back).

Fiona Ferro (FRA): No. 112=========> No. 132 (Ferro is out with injury and not playing, so she couldn’t defend her semifinal effort in Lyon last year, and drops 20 spots in the rankings).

Anna-Lena Friedsam (GER): No. 125 =========> No. 184 (Friedsam, 28, lost in the first round of Lyon and drops a lot of points from her finals effort in 2020).