The elimination in the second round of Seoul’s WTA 500, South Korea, will have a significant negative impact for Beatriz Haddad Maia on the simple ranking of the WTA Tennis Association (WTA). The Paulista should fall from 25th to at least 40th place, its worst place since June 2022.
Bia arrived in Seoul as the current champion of the tournament and needed to repeat the deed in 2025 so as not to lose the 500 points earned last year. This Thursday (18), however, the Brazilian, lost from German Ella Seidel, number 105 of the world, by 2 sets to 1, with partials of 7/6 (7/4), 6/7 (3/7) and 7/5. In the second set, she was 5/2 and a match point In favor, but suffered the turn. The game lasted three hours and 28 minutes.
With the defeat, Bia has only the 60 points of the classification to the second round and without the 500 of the 2024 title. That is, a loss of 440 points in the ranking. And the fall of at least 15 positions can be higher. Dutch Suzan Lamens, for example, is in the round of 16 in Seoul and can add up to 1,479 points if he follows in the competition, which would leave her in front of the now 1,335 points of Paulista.
The fall occurs in a delicate moment of Bia, which did not get into the simple disputes of the season. There are 16 wins and 26 losses in 2025. The Brazilian was the main favorite to the title of SP Open, a WTA 250 tournament held in Sao Paulo last week, but fell in the quarterfinals for Mexican Renata Zarazua. The title at home would yield 250 points and could alleviate the loss in other competitions.
Paulista was twice at the top -10 of the world in June 2023 and October 2024. On this last occasion, Seoul’s WTA title and the US Open’s quarterfinals – one of the four main tournaments of the circuit, the Grand Slams – yielded important points, which she could not defend in 2025.
Bia’s next challenge will be the WTA 1000 of Beijing, China, starting next Wednesday (24). In 2024, she was eliminated in the third round by the American Madison Keys.
