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A Masters 1000 in Cincinnati, and with the semifinal upsets of No. 1 Iga Swiatek and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka, a showdown in New York.

Whomever goes further, will be No. 1 at the end of it. Couldn’t be closer.

And there’s a new top-10 player in town; her name is Karolina Muchova.

Muchova made the final in Cincinnati, but was on fumes against a much fresher, and more effective Gauff. The 19-year-old backed up her epic win over world No. 1 Iga Swiatek in the semifinals with style.

The American is on a serious roll going into New York.

For the full, updated WTA rankings, click here.

ATP Rankings Report – As at Aug. 21, 2023

ON THE UPSWING

Coco Gauff (USA): No. 7 ==========> No. 6 (Winning or losing the Cincinnati Final didn’t make a difference for Gauff’s new ranking on Monday. But she’s coming into the US Open

Marketa Vondrousova (CZE): No. 10 ==========> No. 9 (A new career high as the Wimbledon champion is doing just fine since that unexpected win, thank you muchly).

Karolina Muchova (CZE): No. 17 ==========> No. 10 (Top 10 for the Cincinnati runnerup, for the first time in her career).

Marie Bouzkova (CZE): No. 35 ==========> No. 31 (The Cincinnati quarterfinal – even though she retired early on – gives Bouzkova a seeded spot at the US Open, which should prove very helpful).

Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 43 ==========> No. 35 (Paolini, known more for her clay efforts, qualifies and gets to the quarterfinals in Cincinnati, moving her ranking to a new career high).

Linda Noskova (CZE): No. 50 ==========> No. 42 (She doesn’t get nearly as much pub as the Fruhvirtova sisters, but this 18-year-old has been steadily moving up. She qualified and made the third round in Cincinnati – after missing out on Montreal because of the delays in finishing the Prague tournament, where she was a finalist. She gets Leylah Fernandez in the first round of Cleveland).

Tatjana Maria (GER): No. 58 ==========> No. 49 (The 36-year-old mom of two just keeps trucking. She bypassed the hard-court 1000s and won an ITF in Barranquilla, to get back into the top 50. She plays Gracheva in the first round of Cleveland).

Martina Trevisan (ITA): No. 63 ==========> No. 53 (Another clay-court queen, Trevisan moves up 10 after qualifying and making the second round in Cincinnati. She faced Wang Xiyu in Cleveland qualifying, and lost, but got in as a lucky loser)

Cristina Bucsa (ESP): No. 84 ==========> No. 70 (The steady Spaniard is there, if higher-ranked or more explosive opponsnts fail to execute – remember, she defeated Bianca Andreescu in Australia. She moves up after qualifying and making the second round in Cincinnati).

Wang Yafan (CHN): No. 158 ==========> No. 115 (The 29-year-old former No. 47 – in Oct. 2019 – is back. and goes from the qualifying to the title at the Stanford WTA 125. One to watch out for at the US Open qualifying).

***Wang at the US Open in 2019, where she lost to Caroline Wozniacki in the first round. This will be the first trip back for both since then.***

Fiona Ferro (FRA): No. 252 ==========> No. 190 (Back into the top 200 for Ferro, who was at a career high just as the pandemic halted tennis in 2020, and who had to go through so much after accusing her childhood coach of sexual assault. She made the Barranquilla final, and is a long way from the start of 2023, when she was ranked No. 411. She got the French federation reciprocal wild card into the US Open main draw).

Venus Williams (USA): No. 533 ==========> No. 407 (Not that she has to worry about her ranking, but Williams moves up more than 125 points by winning her first round in Cincinnati. She had a wild card in Cleveland this week – she was to play against 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva in the first round – but she withdrew because that ongoing knee issue).

Varvara Lepchenko (USA): No. 603 ==========> No. 434 (At 37, the American lefty is on yet another comeback; she qualified and reached the semifinals of the ITF in Baranquilla).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Caroline Garcia (FRA): No. 6 ==========> No. 7 (She only drops one spot in the rankings, but nearly 900 points go by the boards as the 2022 Cincinnati champion loses her opener. Garcia plays Linda Fruhvirtova in her Cleveland first round).

Zhang Shuai (CHN): No. 48 ==========> No. 69 (Zhang, who has been struggling for nearly all of 2023, has finally taken a break and passed on Cincinnati and the US Open. But it costs her, as her points from a quarterfinal fall off. She has round-of-16 points from the US Open coming up as well. To this point, her ranking hadn’t been affected by a long winless streak. Zhang played 33 tournaments in 2022, most of them in both singles and doubles. And another 19 in the first seven months of 2023. It’s no surprise she may well be big-time burned out).

Lucia Bronzetti (ITA): No. 68 ==========> No.82 (Bronzetti lost in the first round of Cincinnati qualifying, and drops her 2022 points from reaching the final of the Vancouver WTA 125).

Anna Kalinskaya (RUS): No. 76 ==========> No. 87 (Kalinskaya hasn’t played since Rome, where she retired in the first set of a third-round match against Elena Rybakina).

Shelby Rogers (USA): No. 90 ==========> No. 110 (Rogers is another who has been out for awhile with injury, since Wimbledon. The last time she won a match was in Madrid in April. She drops out of the top 100 for the first time since the pandemic halted play in 2020).

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS): No. 83 ==========> No. 130 (The long injury layoff has resulted in Tomljanovic dropping out of the top 100, after her points from a great run in Cincinnati a year ago – qualifying to the quarters– fall off. She has quarterfinal points to defend in New York, as well, from a great run that included the final match of Serena Williams’s career. Without those – which is most of what she has left – she will drop outside the top 400. Still no word on when she might return; the Aussie hasn’t played all season).

***Tomljanovic at the US Open last year***

Emma Raducanu (GBR): No. 152 ==========> No. 186 (After a couple of surgeries, no timetable for Raducanu’s return. She drops her points from a third round in Cincinnati a year ago, when she knocked off Serena Williams and Victoria Azarenka with ease before falling to Jessica Pegula. But of course will be able to return with a protected ranking).

Alison Riske (USA): No. 181 ==========> No. 242 (Another player who has hardly played this year … she drops points from a third round in Cincinnati a year ago and and has round-of-16 points coming up in New York. A year ago, she was the No. 29 seed).

Amanda Anisimova (USA): No. 273 ==========> No. 340 (This number will continue to tumble while the 21-year-old former No. 21 is on an open-ended sabbatical. On the very positive side, it looks like she’s starting college AND working on her artwork. This is very good news).