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It’s hard to keep track of which tournaments end when, these days.
Mid-week starts and backdated rankings updates and two-week events and so even as the Wuhan WTA 1000 has begun, Beijing was crawling to a close.
But that 1000 means changes. And so this “regularly-scheduled” update has plenty of those.
And, in addition, five singles players and five doubles teams have now officially qualified for the WTA Finals, with a few more not far away.
(Opening opponents in Wuhan in pink)
Jessica Pegula (USA): No. 7 ===========> No. 6 (Pegula came close to making the Beijing final, which might have moved her up an extra spot and overtake Andreeva. But she couldn’t quite make it. She does move past Madison Keys)(Bye/Krueger or Baptiste)
Emma Navarro (USA): No. 17 ===========> No. 14 (It’s been an unremarkable season for Navarro after her lightning rise ot the top 10. But she does some good things in Beijing and moves up three).([WC] Zhang Shuai)
Linda Noskova (CZE): No. 27 ===========> No. 17 (It feels as though Noskova has been around for much longer than she has; she’s still only 20. But after a quiet season she moves to a new career high by reaching the Beijing final).([Q] Yulia Putintseva)
McCartney Kessler (USA): No. 39 ===========> No. 33 (Kessler made the fourth round in Beijing and is back within seeding range for Melbourne).(Jaqueline Cristian)
Marie Bouzkova (CZE): No. 52 ===========> No. 41 (Safely back in the top 50 for the 27-year-old Czech).([Q] Varvara Gracheva)
Eva Lys (GER): No. 66 ===========> No. 45 (A new career high for Lys, and a top-50 debut, after making the quarterfinals in Beijing and beating Jovic, Rybakina and Kessler).
Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 64 ===========> No. 58 (Cirstea was operating on a protected ranking for awhile. But suddenly she started to win matches. She lost in the second round in Beijing but moves back into the top 60. In mid-June, she was ranked No. 169).(Jelena Ostapenko)
Sonay Kartal (GBR): No. 81 ===========> No. 60 (Kartal is now the No. 2 Brit after easing past Katie Boulter – by six points – and making the Beijing quarterfinals and beating Kasatkina, Joint and Andreeva).
Priscilla Hon (AUS): No. 108 ===========> No. 95 (Hon, at 27, moves into the top 100 for the first time after qualifying in Beijing and making the third round. She also had a good run in doubles with Karolina Muchova, before withdrawing with an injury. It should be the first time, in umpteen appearances, that she’ll get into the Australian Open singles main draw on her own ranking).
Katie Volynets (USA): No. 107 ===========> No. 97 (Volynets qualified and lost in the second round in Beijing. But she dashed to a WTA 125 in Suzhou and is in the final and is back in the top 100).
Simona Waltert (SUI): No. 116 ===========> No. 98 (Another debutante in the top 100, the 24-year-old Swiss made the quarterfinals at an ITF in Cosenza and wins another in Lisboa).
Aliaksandra Sasnovich (BLR): No. 130 ===========> No. 114 (Sasnovich, 31, has been as high as No. 29 but while she had poor patches, she also can come up with big matches on certain occasions. She qualified in Beijing and made the third round, beating Osaka in the second round).
Kayla Cross (CAN): No. 258 ===========> No. 224 (Cross got high enough to get into Slam qualifying this summer, but dropped away. She takes a good step back with a run to the ITF final in Templeton, Calif).
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Linda Noskova (CZE) (No. 17)
Loïs Boisson (FRA) (No. 38)
Eva Lys (GER) (No. 45)
Ella Seidel (GER) (No. 85)
Priscilla Hon (AUS) (No. 95)
Simona Waltert (SUI) (No. 98)
Janice Tjen (INA) (No. 99)
Oksana Selekhmeteva (RUS) (No. 111)
Nikola Bartunkova (CZE) (No. 134)
Emerson Jones (AUS) (No. 166)
Carson Branstine (CAN) (No. 172)
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Madison Keys (USA): No. 6 ===========> No. 7 (Keys didn’t play Beijing and has withdrawn from Wuhan with an unspecified “minor injury”. But she has qualified for the WTA Tour Finals in Riyadh. Surprisingly, it’s only the second time ever she has made it; the first was in 2016)(Not playing)
Zheng Qinwen (CHN): No. 9 ===========> No. 10 (Zheng is back, at least. She returned and won her first match in Beijing. But she withdrew from the next, and isn’t playing her hometown WTA 1000 in Wuhan. A lot of points going down for her – a Beijing semi last year, then a final in Wuhan, and then a title in Tokyo – and then the final at the WTA Finals, where she won’t qualify this year).(Not playing)
Karolina Muchova (CZE): No. 15 ===========> No. 22 (Muchova drops out of the top 20 after losing in the fourth round of Beijing, after making the final a year ago. She has a semi to defend from Ningbo in a few weeks).(Marta Kostyuk)
Paula Badosa (ESP): No. 18 ===========> No. 23 (Badosa also drops out of the top 20, after … in the third round of Beijing with yet ANOTHER injury. At 27, still young, it kind of feels like she’s at a crossroads).(Not playing)
Anna Kalinskaya (RUS): No. 29 ===========> No. 34 (Kalinskaya out of the top 30 after losing in the second round in Beijing).(Rebecca Sramkova)
Katie Boulter (GBR): No. 54 ===========> No. 61 (Boulter drops to No. 3 in Britain, behind Raducanu and Kartal, after losing in the second round of Beijing. She lost in the first round of Wuhan qualifying as well, so can’t make up any ground. As recently as June, she was the No. 1 Brit). 
Rebecca Sramkova (SVK): No. 55 ===========> No. 68 (Sramkova, who reached her career high of No. 33 in July, loses in the first round in Beijing and drops points from a qualies-to-the-third round run a year ago. She does win her opener in Wuhan. But she has a finals run in Jiangxi to defend at the end of the month)(Anna Kalinskaya)
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS): No. 94 ===========> No. 105 (Tomljanovic drops out of the top 100, after working so hard to get back in. And she retired in her first round in Wuhan qualifying this week as well).
Yuliia Starodubtseva (UKR): No. 86 ===========> No. 131 (Starodubtseva got as high as No. 63 less than two months ago, but it’s been a tougher go lately. She lost in the first round of Beijing, went to the Suzhou WTA 125 and lost to the first round there, and lost in the first round of Wuhan qualifying. She drops points from a great run a year ago from the qualifying to the Beijing quarterfinals).
Zhang Shuai (CHN): No. 112 ===========> No. 142 (Zhang drops points from making the quarterfinals in Beijing a year ago. But she made the third round of Beijing on a wild card. And at 36, with her eternal losing streak behind her, she’s playing some pretty good tennis. She’s 18-5 since the beginning of May, at various levels. When she went on that run in Beijing, she was ranked No. 595).([14] Emma Navarro)
