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WASHINGTON, D.C. – A quiet week, in a sense, with WTA 250 tournament in Hamburg, Lausanne and Warsaw (the first two on clay).

But if you’re only going to have one top player taking part – it might as well be world No. 1 Iga Swiatek, playing at home in Poland.

Swiatek had to finish up a semifinal before she trounced Laura Siegemund in the final in Warsaw. But the move of the tournament to hard courts mean that it’s better prep for the big summer to come than it might have been otherwise.

Other winners last week include Arantxa Rus and Elisabetta Cocciaretto, both of whom moved to career highs.

ATP Rankings Report – As of July 31, 2023

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

ON THE UPSWING

Ons Jabeur (TUN: No. 6 ========> No. 5 (Jabeur moves up one because of Caroline Garcia’s points drop, but her summer is a question mark now that she’s already withdrawn from the Montreal tournament next week).

Elisabetta Cocciaretto (ITA): No. 42 ========> No. 30 (The 22-year-old Italian moves up to a career high with a title in Lausanne – the first of her career, and will be looking for a seed at the US Open despite not being particularly distinguished off the clay. Nearly half her $1.3 million career prize money has come this year).

Arantxa Rus (NED): No. 60 ========> No. 42 (It wasn’t long ago that Rus, a 32-year-old lefty, was scrambling to get back into the top 100. Now, after all these years, she wins her first career WTA title in Hamburg – in her first career final – and leaps into the top 50 for the first time. Persistence is key; Rus was the oldest first-time finalist on the WTA Tour in 17 years, the oldest first-time champion in 40 years, and was the Australian Open junior champion … 15 years ago).

Tatjana Maria (GER): No. 65 ========> No. 58 (Good effort by the German, who turns 36 next week – the same day as Roger Federer and Félix Auger-Aliassime – to reach the semifinals in Warsaw. She’s back in the top 60).

Clara Burel (FRA): No. 84 ========> No. 61 (A career high for the 22-year-old from France as she reaches the Lausanne final).

Diane Parry (FRA): No. 90 ========> No. 79 (Another young Frenchwoman has a good week as Parry and her lovely one-handed backhand move up following a run to the Lausanne semis, where she lost to countrywoman Burel).

Diana Shnaider (RUS): No. 101 ========> No. 86 (The Russian, who played for North Carolina State this past year, moves to a career high after making the Hamburg semifinals).

Yanina Wickmayer (BEL): No. 109 ========> No. 93 (It was a slow and steady rise as the 33-year-old returned from maternity leave and slogged at the ITF level. But a semifinal in Warsaw finally gets the former No. 12 back into the top 100 for the first time since Sept. 2018. She began the season at No. 323, and just got back onto the WTA rankings computer in June, 2022. The doubles title with Heather Watson moved Wickmayer to a career high there, as she’s 28-4 at all levels in 2023. It might be time to renew her WTA website mugshot, which looks like a relic from the 00s).

***Wickmayer and Watson win in doubles.***

Noma Noha Akugue (GER): No. 207 ========> No. 142 (The 19-year-old German lefty showed promise as she took a wild card into the final in Hamburg. One worth watching going forward).

Daria Saville (AUS): No. 225 ========> No. 163 (Saville, 29, is on the comeback trail from knee surgery and has a protected ranking. But she does good work on her actual ranking after making the semifinal in Hamburg, losing to eventual champion Rus).

Alina Korneeva (RUS): No. 326 ========> No. 220 (Mirra Andreeva isn’t the only 16-year-old Russian on the side as Korneeva, who beat Andreeva in the Australian Open juniors in January – and also won the French Open juniors, moves up more than 100 spots by going from the qualifying to the title at a $100K ITF in Portugal).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Caroline Garcia (FRA): No. 5 ========> No. 6 (Garcia drops 280 points from her title at the Poland Open a year ago (which was on clay). She’s the No. 2 seed in D.C. this week and is looking at some serious points defence this summer with her 2022 run from the qualifying to the title in Cincinnati – and her subsequent run to the US Open semifinals. Although, with the gap in points to those ranked loser, she’d barely be out of the top 10 even if she didn’t defend any of those points. So hopefully that’ll take some pressure off).

Marie Bouzkova (CZE): No. 29 ========> No. 39 (Tough drop for Bouzkova, who will now have to work to get seeded and avoid a tough first round in New York. Notably, she’s the top seed at home in Prague this week – that’s the tournament she won last year, whose points have now fallen off. And that No. 39 ranking was the cutoff for the entire main draw entry in D.C. – i.e., the LAST player straight in (Sloane Stephens) was ranked No. 39. Pretty big contrast between the two events).

***Bouzkova with her Prague trophy a year ago (Photo: Daniel Gravis/WTA)***

Linda Noskova (CZE): No. 59 ========> No. 71 (A quarterfinalist in Warsaw, losing to Swiatek, Noskova drops her points from a semifinal effort in Prague last year, which included two retirements by her opponents. Noskova plays American Elvina Kalieva in the first round).

Kateryna Baindl (UKR): No. 77 ========> No. 98 (Baindl’s ranking has been a bit of a yoyo recently, as last year’s good results came up for renewal. She drops her points from a run from the qualifying to the semis in Warsaw a year ago. But she started things off in Prague with a three-set win over countrywoman Dayana Yastremska Monday).

Laura Siegemund (GER): No. 153 ========> No. 111 (The former No. 27, now 35, pulled off an impressive week in Warsaw a (despite the drubbing in the final by Swiatek. She’s not in a unique club there).

Victoria Mboko (CAN): No. 316 ========> No. 394 (Mboko drops down from her career high earned last week, after points from her title at the $25K in Saskatoon a year ago drop off. Mboko “defended” her title, in a sense, by winning Saskatoon a few weeks ago – but it’s been upgraded to a $60,000 since then. She will be battling for a spot in the National Bank Open qualifying at a pre-tournament this week in Montreal).

Wang Qiang (CHN): No. 283 ========> No. 466 (Does anyone know where the 31-year-old former No. 12 is? She hasn’t played since Tokyo, nearly a year ago).