There was only one change in the top 20 of the WTA Rankings the past week, but further down list Katie Boulter and a few other British players enjoyed a fine start to the grass-court season.
With the majority of the big-name players taking a break after the French Open, there was very little movement at the top of the rankings. In fact, it was a case of “as you were” in the top 12.
Iga Swiatek still leads the way and she is now up to 64 consecutive weeks at No 1 with Aryna Sabalenka 929 points adrift in second place and Elena Rybakina another 2,900 points behind in third place.
The only change in the top 20 came at No 13 and No 14 with Veronika Kudermetova and Belinda Bencic swapping places as the former moved up one place and the Swiss dropped a spot while Magda Linette moved up one place to return to the top 20.
Further down the rankings it was a glorious week for Boulter as she won the Nottingham Open title to return to the top 100 for the first time since 2019.
The 26-year-old, who defeated fellow Brit Jodie Burrage in the final to win her maiden WTA Tour title, surged up 49 places to hit a new career-high of No 77.
Burrage, meanwhile, is up to No 108, Harriet Dart now sits at No 134 after reaching the quarter-final in Nottingham and Heather Watson moved up 50 spots to No 145 following her run to the semi-final.
The grass-court action will intensify over the next week with two big tournaments: the WTA 500 German Open and WTA 250 Birmingham Classic.
Most of the big guns will return to action with world No 2 Sabalenka making her 2023 grass-court debut in Berlin where 470 ranking points is on offer to the winner.
Although Swiatek is assured of keeping the No 1 ranking until Wimbledon, a title run for Sabalenka in Germany will see her reduce the lead at the top to 458 points.
Sabalenka, though, will need to come through a high-class field as Rybakina is seeded second with defending champion Ons Jabeur and world No 4 Caroline Garcia and world No 6 Coco Gauff also in the line-up.
Boulter, Burrage and Dart will all be in action in Birmingham along with top seed Barbora Krejcikova, Jelena Ostapenko and Linette.
WTA Rankings Top 20
1. Iga Swiatek Poland 8,940 points
2. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,012
3. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan 5,090
4. Caroline Garcia France 5,025
5. Jessica Pegula United States 4,905
6. Ons Jabeur Tunisia 3,961
7. Coco Gauff United States 3,435
8. Maria Sakkari Greece 3,272
9. Petra Kvitova Czech Republic 3,102
10. Beatriz Haddad Maia Brazil 2,420
11. Daria Kasatkina – 2,735
12. Barbora Krejcikova Czech Republic 2,680
13. Veronika Kudermetova – 2,600
14. Belinda Bencic Switzerland 2,380
15. Liudmila Samsonova – 2,296
16. Karolina Muchova Czech Republic 2,295
17. Jelena Ostapenko Latvia 2,130
18. Karolina Pliskova Czech Republic 2,100
19. Victoria Azarenka – 1,967
20. Donna Vekic Croatia 1,773
British players in the top 150
77. Katie Boulter 787 points
108. Jodie Burrage 626
130. Emma Raducanu 548
134. Harriet Dart 532
137. Katie Swan 515
145. Heather Watson 488
READ MORE: Katie Boulter delighted to win ‘home tournament’ after dreaming about it for 22 years
