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A double-decker on the WTA rankings this week, as they didn’t issue a list last Monday because of the mid-week start of the Madrid Open.
So plenty of moves made – starting with the jump by Ons Jabeur to tie her career best, after winning the biggest title of her career in Madrid.
She also leaped to the No. 2 spot in the year-end singles race.
There are also a lot of moves happening because others did not defend points.
That’s kind of how the WTA rolls these days.
ON THE UPSWING
Barbora Krejcikova (CZE): No. 3 ==========> No. 2 (The reigning Roland Garros champion is back up to her career high, despite dropping points, because Paula Badosa dropped so many points. She continues to be MIA leading into her title defence).
Ons Jabeur (TUN): No. 10 ==========> No.7 (Jabeur leaps to tie her career high. More importantly, after so many disappointmens in finals, she came up big in the Madrid final Saturday and won the biggest title of her career).

Jessica Pegula (USA): No. 14 ==========> No. 11 (The stealth bomber on the WTA Tour moves to a career high after making the Madrid final).

Leylah Fernandez (CAN): No. 20 ==========> No. 18 (Fernandez went out in the second round in Madrid. But she moves up in part because her first-round opponent in Rome, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, drops five spots after dropping quarterfinal Madrid points from a year ago. It’s a new career high).
Jil Teichmann (SUI): No. 35 ==========> No. 29 (A career high for the Swiss lefty, who made the Madrid semis).
Ekaterina Alexandrova: No. 45 ==========> No. 31 (A run from the qualifying to the semifinals in Madrid puts Alexandrova in good position for a seed in Paris).
Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP): No. 47 ==========> No. 37 (Sorribes Tormo beat a limping Naomi Osaka in Madrid. Guess who she gets in the first round in Rome? You guessed it).
Kaia Kanepi (EST): No. 55 ==========> No. 46 (Kanepi qualified in Madrid, lost in the first round but still adds some points).

Petra Martic (CRO): No. 58 ==========> No. 47 (Still a ways away from her career high of No. 14, but Martic looks to be getting her tennis mojo back. And she qualified in Rome this week, so maybe can make more moves).

Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA): No. 65 ==========> No. 52 (The 25-year-old from Brazil had quite the week. She lost in the Madrid qualies, got in as a lucky loser, lost in the first round, lost a surprising first-round doubles match, jetted to Saint-Malo – and won the 125K there on Sunday. After working back from basically nowhere after a drug suspension, she is now at a career high and just three points from the top 50).
Dayana Yastremska (UKR): No. 92 ==========> No. 80 (The Ukrainian is still wandering the world without a real home at the moment. But she’s slowly working her way back up the rankings. She’s playing the Paris 125K this week).


Bianca Andreescu (CAN): No. 111 ==========> No. 90 (Andreescu moves up nicely after making the third round in Madrid, and is back in the top 100. She has Emma Raducanu in the first round of her career debut in Rome).
Danka Kovinic (MNE): No. 114 ==========> No. 91 (Kovinic won the ITF in Wiesbaden Germany last week, and is back in the top 100).
Wang Xiyu (CHN): No. 123 ==========> No. 103 (The 21-year-old Chinese lefty moves to a career high after making the final at the $100K ITF in Charleston two weeks ago, and the semifinals last week at a similar event in Bonita Springs).
Gabriela Lee (ROU): No. 234 ==========> No. 150 (The 26-year-old, unknown Romanian leaps into a career high and the top 150 after qualifying and going all the way to the title last week at the $100K ITF in Bonita Springs).

Maja Chwalinska (POL): No. 268 ==========> No. 176 (The diminutive former junior doubles partner of Iga Swiatek, still just 20, took a mental health break earlier in the year. She’s back, and won an ITF in Prague, and went from the qualifying to the semifinals at another in Istanbul over the last two weeks. She’s at a career high).
Diana Shnaider: No. 471 ==========> No. 326 (The 18-year-old, still of junior age, moves up 145 spots after winnins ITFs in Shymkent and Istanbul the last couple of weeks).
Taylor Townsend (USA): No. 739 ==========> No. 333 (Townsend won the $100K ITF in Charleston, as she takes her first steps back after maternity leave. She’ll be at Roland Garros, where she’ll also play doubles with Madison Keys).


Françoise Abanda (CAN): No. 470 ==========> No. 458 (Abanda racked up a few pionts from qualifying at the Charleston ITF and making the semifinals of a smaller one at Daytona Beach last week. She’s not playing this week, and she’s still so far down the list that she’s got a lot of work to do).
ON THE DOWNSWING
Paula Badosa (ESP): No. 2 ==========> No. 3 (325 points off the record as Badosa lost her opener in Madrid. She and Garbiñe Muguruza, who has significantly more experience at it, haven’t figured out how to keep the stress level down for their “home” WTA 1000).

Aryna Sabalenka: No. 4 ==========> No. 8 (Sabalenka drops nearly 1,000 points from last year’s Madrid title, going out in the first round this year. She has another 105 to defend in Rome this week, where she has a bye, then faces Zhang Shuai or Martina Trevisan).
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS): No. 15 ==========> No. 20 (Pavlyuchenkova is back from injury, but definitely shy of matches as she goes into Paris in a few weeks defending her 2021 final. She drops her points from a semifinal in Madrid a year ago).

Petra Kvitova (CZE): No. 30 ==========> No. 34 (It’s been a slog this year for Kvitova, who lost her opener in Madrid).
Sloane Stephens (USA): No. 43 ==========> No. 49 (Another good player who went out in the first round of Madrid).
Viktorija Golubic (SUI): No. 39 ==========> No. 56 (Golubic her points from winning the Saint-Malo WTA 125 last year wiped out by an early exit in Madrid this year).

Karolina Muchova (CZE): No. 67 ==========> No. 78 (Muchova can play with a protected ranking of No. 22 if she needs to. She made the second round in Madrid, but drops points from her quarterfinal a year ago).
Claire Liu (USA): No. 86 ==========> No. 118 (The American, who lost in the Saint-Malo quarterfinals, drops points from winning the $100K in Charleston a year ago).
Jennifer Brady (USA): No. 174 ==========> No. 279 (The former world No. 13 has been very much under the radar, in terms of when she might be coming back to the Tour after injury. She hasn’t played since retiring in the second round of Cincinnati, just before last year’s US Open. She drops third-round points from last year’s Madrid. After that event, she retired in the four tournaments she played – the only exception was the Olympics, where she lost in the first round to Camila Giorgi – and then went missing).

Laura Siegemund (GER): No. 196 ==========> No. 283 (The 34-year-old has a protected ranking she can work with. But she drops points from qualifying and making the second round in Madrid a year ago).
Venus Williams (USA): No. 497 ==========> No. 533 (No word from either sister about possibly playing again, as both word hard to build their post-career brands. Serena’s ranking still stands at No. 250; Venus hasn’t played since losing in the first round of a 250 in Chicago, the week before last year’s US Open. She went down to Hsieh Su-Wei (another player who also is MIA) 6-2, 6-3).
THE CANADIANS
Two notables, beyond the usual singles rankings.
Gabriela Dabrowski and partner Giuliana Olmos have rocketed up to No. 4 in the doubles year-end race.

And 15-year-old Victoria Mboko’s final at the $25K ITF in Tunisia two weeks ago comes onto the computer.

ROAD TO … SOMEWHERE

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