WTA Rankings Report – As of May 6, 2024

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It was a week where Coco Gauff could have risen to No. 2 in the world, had she gone a little further. But in the end, Aryna Sabalenka keeps that spot, after making the final in Madrid. She ended up going out what might well go down as one of the matches of the year on the WTA Tour, against Iga Swiatek.

There are two weeks of rankings that jump on the computer at once, because of the extended nature of the Madrid tournament that stretches out over nearly two weeks.

So, as a result, there are ton of rankings moves worth mentioning – and even more here, where you can find the complete list effective Monday.

ATP Rankings Report – As of May 6, 2024

Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 13 ==========> No. 12 (If it’s a little hard to imagine that Paolini rises to another career high this week, it’s also true that she just keeps posting wins every week – in Madrid, a fourth-round effort).

Madison Keys (USA): No. 20 ==========> No. 16 (a nice leap with an unexpected run to the Madrid semis, which included a win over Coco Gauff. She was no match for Swiatek, though).

Marta Kostyuk (UKR): No. 21 ==========> No. 20 (At long last, even though she’s still only 21, Kostyuk makes the top 20 even though she only made it to the second round in Madrid).

***Putintseva’s reaction, when an imminent win turned into defeat against Rybakina, was to be expected.***

Yulia Putintseva (KAZ): No. 50 ==========> No. 41 (It’s the best ranking Putintseva has had since Feb. 2023, after a great run to the Madrid quarterfinals and a .. thunderously disappointing defeat to Elena Rybakina after leading a set and 5-2. She was ranked No. 80 in late February).

Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP): No. 55 ==========> No. 47 (Tormo is back in the game after missing a chunk of time, and working off a protected ranking of No. 68. Now, she’s back in the top 50 after making the fourth round in Madrid. She’s also in the doubles final there Sunday with countrywoman Cristina Bucsa).

Ashlyn Krueger (USA): No. 70 ==========> No. 66 (Another career high for the 19-year-old American, who made the third round in Madrid – then went to Lleida, Spain and made the quarterfinals at the WTA 125 there).

Maria Lourdes Carlé (ARG): No. 82 ==========> No. 71 (Another career high for the 24-year-old from Argentina, who qualified and got to the third round in Madrid).

Daria Saville (AUS): No. 96 ==========> No. 84 (Saville, a former No. 20 coming back from major knee surgery, just squeezed into the Roland Garros main in time by getting back into the top 100. She made more progress last week by making the Madrid draw as a lucky loser, and then going to Saint-Malo and winning a round).

Emina Bektas (USA): No. 108 ==========> No. 97 (Bektas, who had reached the top 100 this year already in her 30s, slipped out a few weeks ago but is back in after some results in ITFs in Japan the last two weeks).

Alizé Cornet (FRA): No. 107 ==========> No. 99 (Cornet gets back into the top 100 just weeks before she plans to call it a career at Roland Garros. She made the Saint-Malo semis. And while it’s too late to get straight into Paris, she will have a wild card as she says au revoir).

***Bejlek during the 2023 Roland Garros qualifying***

Sara Bejlek (CZE): No. 136 ==========> No. 114 (The diminutive Czech lefty moves up to another career high by not only qualifying in Madrid, but making the fourth round. She posted win over Blinkova, Kalinskaya and Krueger before falling to Rybakina).

Jana Fett (CRO): No. 150 ==========> No. 128 (Fett, a 27-year-old whose career high ranking is No. 97, gets closer to that after winning the top-level ITF in Oeiras two weeks ago).

Lulu Sun (NZL): No. 164 ==========> No. 132 (Newly Kiwi – she was born there but moved to Switzerland, the country she represented as a junior, when she was young – makes the semifinals at the ITF in Charlottesville two weeks ago, and wins the $100K ITF in Bonita Springs this week. It’s a new career high. She won the doubles as well in Florida).

Loïs Boisson (FRA): No. 191 ==========> No. 152 (The 20-year-old has forgotten how to lose, and moves to another career high with another title – this one at the WTA 125 in Saint-Malo. She was ranked No. 324 before the start of the Australian Open).

Robin Montgomery (USA): No. 183 ==========> No. 158 (Still only 19, it’s been a bit of a gradual rise for the talented American lefty, who got a wild card into Madrid gave Aryna Sabalenka everything she could handle before going down in the third round).

Naomi Osaka (JPN): No. 197 ==========> No. 173 (Osaka’s comeback would be expected to remain pretty low key, now that we’re into the clay-court season. But where she is in the rankings, she can move up 24 spots just by winning one round in Madrid. She’s in Rome this week for the first time since 2021).

Maya Joint (AUS): No. 269 ==========> No. 208 (Joint is a promising 18-year-old Australian who has played a lot on the ITF circuit in the U.S. and in Mexico this year. She made the semifinal in Charlottesville – and the final in the $100K in Bonita Springs this week).

Guiomar Maristany Zuleta de Reales (ESP): No. 290 ==========> No. 245 (You won’t have heard of this 25-year-old, whose previous career high ranking was No. 253. And perhaps we won’t hear of her again. But after losing in the first round of qualifying in Madrid, she went to the 125 in Lleida and made the semifinal. Some impressive wins along the way, too).

Ena Shibahara (JPN): No. 353 ==========> No. 287 (The doubles specialist is using this 2024 season – after a successful and lucrative 2023 on the doubles circuit – to see how good she can get in singles. She reached the final at an ITF in Tokyo, and leaps into the top 300 for the first time. She was ranked no. 548 at the start of 2024).

Wang Qiang (CHN): No. 827 ==========> No. 573 (Big jump for the former No. 12, who wins the ITF in Wuning, China and, at 32, hopefully has some sort of momentum for the comeback she’s been teasing for awhile now. Finally, she returned at the beginning of February in Thailand – and then was done another 2 1/2 months before returning for events in China. She had been out since losing in Tokyo in Sept. 2022).

***Wang at the Australian Open in 2021. She was out a year and a half but appears to be finally coming back.***

Maria Sakkari (GRE): No. 6 ==========> No. 8 (A semifinalist a year ago, Sakkari went down quietly in the round of 16 in Madrid to Sloane Stephens, thus dropping a lot of points. She only has third-round points to defend in Rome, and she went out in the first round of Roland Garros to Karolina Muchova. So she has space to make a move in the next weeks).

Veronika Kudermetova (RUS): No. 19 ==========> No. 25 (It’s taken awhile for Kudermetova to drop out of the top 20. But Madrid was the first chunk of points she had to defend during this clay-court season. And her loss in the second round didn’t make up for the semifinal points she had to defend. The Russian is also defending a semifinal this week in Rome).

Petra Martic (CRO): No. 62 ==========> No. 81 (Martic didn’t play in Madrid. She’s been off since losing in the first round of Charleston – after losing in the first round of both Indian Wells and Miami …., and drops points from making Madrid quarters last year).

Rebeka Masarova (ESP): No. 89 ==========> No. 104 (Masarova, who reached the third round a year ago in Madrid, drops out of the top 100 after losing in the first round of qualifying there, and the first round at the WTA 125 in Lleida during the second week).

Paula Badosa (ESP): No. 101 ==========> No. 126 (The fall is real for Badosa, whose back woes improved – only to have a leg injury scuttle her run in Stuttgart, and be a big contributor to a tough opening loss in Madrid to countrywoman Jessica Bouzas Maneiro. Not only that, she announced the end of her nearly year-long romance with Stefanos Tsitsipas).

Irina-Camelia Begu (ROU): No. 128 ==========> No. 161 (Begu can operate on a protected ranking in the 70s for awhile, as she comes back from a seven-month absence. She won a round in Madrid, and made the semifinals at an ITF in Wiesbaden the previous week, but still drops 32 spots because she had been a quarterfinalist in Madrid a year ago).

Bianca Andreescu (CAN): No. 220 ==========> No. 225 (Andreescu’s plan is to return in two weeks – in Rabat, Morocco, the week before Roland Garros. She can use a protected ranking of No. 64 as she comes back from yet another long absence).

Stacey Fung (CAN): No. 255 ==========> No. 311 (The 27-year-old Canadian drops outside the top 300, which is a blow, after losing in the first round of ITF events in Tokyo and Gifu the last two weeks. She was defending pionts from winning a $40K ITF in Georgia a year ago).

***Bouchard in qualifying at the Italian Open a year ago.***

Eugenie Bouchard (CAN): No. 346 ==========> No. 466 (Just as Bouchard drops some of her last significant ranking points – from qualifying and winning a round in Madrid a year ago – she announces she’ll be back on the competitive tennis court next week at a $75K ITF in Zephyr Hills, Fla. It will be her first singles match since Guadalajara last September. TheCanadian has quarterfinal points from a WTA 125 in Firenze, Italy coming up for renewal in a couple of weeks).