The surprise withdrawal of Ashley Barty of professional tennis has opened the door to see a new face at the top of the women’s world ranking. The Australian was in that position of honor for 114 weeks plus five months (from March to August 2020) in which the classification was stopped due to the pandemic. The last one who occupied the throne, before Barty, was Naomi Osaka between August and September 2019.
But there is already a date to know the name of the new number 1 in the world: April 4, which will be the first Monday immediately after the final of the Miami Open 2022. This was stipulated after Ashleigh Barty announced that she will ask the WTA erase his name from the world rankings. The former tennis player’s decision was reported just two days after revealing her withdrawal.
“In the next classification, my name will be removed from the list. It will be an exciting moment for the circuit to have a new number 1, ”Barty declared at a conference held in his country (in Brisbane, Australia), less than 72 hours after announcing his retirement. On other occasions with retired players, her ranking disappears as the WTA tour tournaments progress, but this time the still number 1 asked to be deleted.
The first option to succeed Barty is the 20-year-old Polish woman, Iga Swiatek, who has just won the Masters 1000 in Indian Wells. Thanks to that title, she reached 5,776 points so far in the 2022 season, although she was still far from the Australian (7,980 after winning the first Grand Slam of the year).
It would be enough for Swiatek to win her first two matches at the Miami Open (she starts on Friday against Switzerland’s Viktorija Golubic) to secure the top of the ranking starting April 4. From the background, it is not a sure thing, since in 2021 she played this tournament for the first time and was eliminated in her opening match (in the third round).
“They say that it is possible for me to become number 1 in the world. When we read all the information, all the rules that can apply, we realized that it doesn’t make any sense to really think about all that, at the moment, because we have so little time to prepare for another tournament,” Swiatek said during the post-conference. to his Indian Wells title.
The young Polish woman debuted on the professional circuit in 2016 and since then she has accumulated five singles titles in six finals played, highlighting the Grand Slam of Roland Garros 2020 and three in the Masters 1000 category: Italian Open 2021, Dubai Open and Indian Wells in 2022.
The good start to the year gave her the best ranking of her career at dawn as the number 2 on the planet as of March 21. Her name is already a sensation in tennis, because with her Roland Garros title in 2020 she became the youngest champion (19 years old) of a major since Maria Sharapova at Wimbledon 2004 and was also the youngest to break into the top 10 of the WTA. One of her highlights was having qualified for the 2021 WTA Finals, although she only stayed in the round robin phase there.
The second candidate to take the top of the WTA is the Greek Maria Sakkar, current number 3 with 5,085 points and current runner-up for Indian Wells. Sakkari made his debut on the top circuit in 2015 but so far he only has one title (Rabat Grand Prix 2019, at the 250 level) against four lost finals (none of the Grand Slam).
The third option is Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and the fourth is Spanish Paula Badosa, who are currently number 5 and 6 in the ranking with 4,862 and 4,790 points. Both should reach the Miami Open title to aspire to the world top and hope that Swiatek does not exceed the third round, so their options are more limited. The highest ranking Sabalenka has reached was second place in August 2021, while for Badosa it was fourth place in February 2022.
It should be noted that the current number 4 in the world, the Czech Barbora Krejcikova, is not considered a candidate to take the number 1 on April 4 because she is not participating in the Miami Open due to an elbow injury that also left her out of Indian Wells. She is estimated to be able to rejoin the tour in May to defend her crown at Roland Garros.
Miami Open: Raducanu, out; osaka advances
The second Masters 1000 held in March in the United States begins to define its field towards the decisive rounds. After Thursday’s session, some big-name tennis players were left out, such as Emma Raducanu, Leyla Fernandez, Karolina Pliskova, Elina Svitolin and Simona Halepalthough the latter withdrew at the last moment, before facing Daria Gavrilova in her first match, due to discomfort in her thigh.
For her part, the Czech Pliskova, the sixth best seed in the tournament, said goodbye in her debut match against the Russian Anna Kalinskaya (6-3, 6-3), surprising her defeat because she was one of the eight participants in the WTA Finals in 2021. Raducanu was knocked out by Katerina Siniakova (6-3, 4-6, 5-7) and Fernández by Karolina Muchova (4-6, 6-7).
The one who did get a good result was Naomi Osaka by defeating the German Angelique Kerber (6-2, 6-3); Previously, she had knocked out Australian Astra Sharma (6-3, 6-4) in the first round and her next opponent in the round of 32 will be Czech Muchova. She is an iota of illusion after being knocked out of Indian Wells in the second round and in tears due to insults from a fan.
As for the Mexican delegation, doubles player Santiago González was left out in his first Miami Open match, along with Argentine Andrés Molteni, against the Australian pair of Thanasi Kokkinakis and Nick Kyrgios (6-2, 6-7, 10-6 ). In the women’s branch, Giuliana Olmos will make her debut on Saturday along with the Canadian Gabriela Dabrowski to face the doubles champions of the Zapopan Open 2022: the American Sabrina Santamaria and the Belarusian Lidziya Marozava.
