March 16, 2025

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

WTA Rankings Report – As of Feb. 10, 2025

(Pic: WTA Tour)

A WTA 500 in Abu Dhabi that had some notables missing, along with a competitive 250 and a 125 in Mumbai (plus the ITFs) meant a full slate of opportunities for players to make some rankings moves.

And none took more advantage than Belinda Bencic, who is already in full swing on her return after a year’s maternity leave and takes the Abu Dhabi title with a wild card.

 For the complete, updated WTA rankings for Monday, click here.

(First-round opponents for players in action in Doha in brackets).

Madison Keys (USA): No. 7 ===========> No. 6 (Keys moves up to a new career high – not having done anything, but because 2024 Abu Dhabi champion Elena Rybakina dropped some points by not defending) (Not playing)

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Linda Noskova (CZE): No. 39 ===========> No. 33 (Noskova has been pretty quiet of late. But she makes a run to the Abu Dhabi semifinals and improves her lot quite a bit) ([15] Donna Vekic).

Marketa Vondrousova (CZE): No. 37 ===========> No. 34 (After a long injury absence, the Czech lefty is sarting to find some form, and made the quarterfinals in Abu Dhabi by beating Emma Raducanu and No. 4 seed Yulia Putintseva)(Elina Svitolina).

Ashlyn Krueger (USA): No. 51 ===========> No. 40 (She’s still only 20, and after making her biggest final so far in Abu Dhabi, the American is into the top 40)([WC] Sofia Kenin).

Lucia Bronzetti (ITA): No. 72 ===========> No. 56 (Bronzetti makes the final in Cluj-Napoca, moving up a fair bit. Her career high is No. 46, reached last April).

Belinda Bencic (SUI): No. 157 ===========> No. 65 (Bencic began her comeback from maternity late last fall, with only smaller tournaments available. But she got some good reps in so when she arrived in Australia, it wasn’t a shock to her system. Unranked when she began, she’s already up to No. 65 after winning Abu Dhabi as a wild card. Impressive return – she’s 12-3 on the season, 19-5 including the lower-level events the played late last fall when she first returned)(Not playing).

Kimberly Birrell (AUS): No. 86 ===========> No. 75 (At 26, Birrell is no spring chicken. But she has had a solid 2025 so far, and scheduled well by playing the ITFs in Australia after the AO. She wins in Brisbane and moves to a another career best, as No. 75).

Jil Teichmann (SUI): No. 117 ===========> No. 100 (The former No. 21 – it wasn’t so long ago – is slowly making her way back up the rankings, and wins the WTA 125 in Mumbai. It moves her back into the top 100, exactly).

(Teichmann during AO qualifying, wearing arguably the most hideous kit seen during the entire tournament)

Wakana Sonobe (JPN): No. 837 ===========> No. 464 (The 17-year-old, who won the Australian Open juniors just a few weeks ago and is the junior No. 2 in the world, qualified in Abu Dhabi after getting a wild card and won a round. To say the least, she chops a huge chunk off that ranking. Worth noting that she won her first-round match in Melbourne 10-8 in the third-set match tiebreak – and didn’t lose a set the rest of the way).

Sonobe in action during the Australian Open girls’ doubles event.

 

Madison Keys (USA) (No. 6)
Ashlyn Krueger (USA) (No. 40)
Suzan Lamens (NED) (No. 66)
Kimberly Birrell (AUS) (No. 75)
Robin Montgomery (USA) (No. 102)
Anca Todoni (ROU) (No. 104)
Mananchaya Sawangkaew (THA) (No. 115)
Gao Xinyu (CHN) (No. 127)

Elena Rybakina (KAZ): No. 5 ===========> No. 7 (Rybakina had a good week in Abu Dhabi. But not as good a week as she did last year, when she won it. So the semifinal effort drops her out of the top five. But lots of points on offer the next two weeks)(Bye).

Emma Raducanu (GBR): No. 56 ===========> No. 60 (Raducanu is sort of hovering around in this area of the rankings, with niggles here and there and coaching changes and all sorts of mini-dramas. She went out in the first round of Abu Dhabi, where she had a wild card. And she has another one into Doha this week)(Ekaterina Alexandrova).

Karolina Pliskova (CZE): No. 47 ===========> No. 69 (There hasn’t been much noise from the former No. 1 in awhile. And with the points from her title a year ago in Transyvania  dropping, her ranking does as well.  She has more points coming off this week from her semifinal in Doha last year – which may drop her outside the top 130. Although that won’t matter much as she’ll be able to return on a protected ranking. Pliskova, now 32, last played at the US Open, where she won her first round – then withdrew before facing Jasmine Paolini. She had surgery to repair tendons in her left ankle just a few days later, but looks to at least be back on the court in recent weeks).

Pliskova at the Australian Open in 2023

Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 64 ===========> No. 79 (Now 34 – time flies – Cirstea has a new coach in Sven Groeneveld this year but the results haven’t come so far. She loses in the first round in Cluj after making the quaterfinals in Abu Dhabi last year last year).

Sara Sorribes Tormo (ESP): No. 83 ===========> No. 95 (The 28-year-old Spaniard was beaten in an hour and 19 minutes in the first round of Cluj-Napoca, after qualifying. That alone should be noted as an impressive feat by opponent Anna Blinkova. But having earned good points in Abu Dabi last year, she drops).

Rebecca Marino (CAN): No. 103 ===========> No. 109 (Marino had a great week in Mumbai, getting to the semifinals. But a year ago she won a $100K ITF in Irapuato, Mexico, so she ends up dropping six spots. That tournament isn’t there this year – replaced, it appears, by a WTA 125 in Cancún).

(Bucsa during her tight three-set loss to Leylah Fernandez at the Australian Open in January).

Cristina Bucsa (ESP): No. 98 ===========> No. 116 (The 27-year-old Spaniard is much better than this ranking. But she’s the type of player who typically puts up a consistent level that leaves her somewhat dependant on the form of an opponent with a higher ceiling. She lost in the final round of qualifying in Abu Dhabi, But a year ago she qualified and made the quarters. So she drops out of the top 100. The good news is she qualified in Doha this week, which is a WTA 1000. And beats Anna Kalinskaya in a marathon first round on Sunday).

 

(Note that the Cana-Kiwis, Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, don’t appear on this list because they only have one tournament on their board so far in 2025. On the basis of their semifinal in Australia, they’d be in the third spot).

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