Big leap for Aryna Sabalenka in WTA rankings

PARIS:  Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka on Monday rose from her previous career-high of No. 7 to No. 4 in the WTA rankings after winning the fourth WTA 1000 title of her career in Madrid, adding to previous triumphs at Wuhan (2018 and 2019) and Doha (2020).

"That's unbelievable. That's crazy. I'm really happy with this improvement," the Belarusian said when told of her new career-high ranking.

"There are still a lot of things to improve, too. Yeah, of course, I'm really happy, but I'm also not really focusing on the ranking. I'm more focusing on my game. No. 4, this is not No. 1. There are still a lot of things to work on and to improve," Sabalenka told tennis.com.

Sabalenka is now the second-highest ranked Belarusian player in WTA rankings history, passing Natasha Zvereva, who got to a career-high of No. 5. Victoria Azarenka is the highest, getting to No. 1.

And a bit further down on the WTA rankings, Paula Badosa made her Top- 50 debut, jumping from No. 62 to No. 42 after reaching her biggest semi-final to date in Madrid.

The wild card entrant was the first Spanish woman to make the final four at the WTA 1000 event since it debuted on the calendar in 2009. IANS

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