With a run to the final of the China Open in Beijing, Romania's Simona Halep will become the new WTA World No.1 when the updated rankings are released on Monday, October 9.
The 26-year-old becomes the first player representing Romania to achieve this historic milestone since the computer rankings were introduced in 1975, and will be the 25th woman overall to hold the No.1 ranking.
Her rise to WTA World No.1 brings an end to the reign of Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza, who spent four weeks in the position, and she is the fifth woman in 2017 to hold top spot, also following Angelique Kerber, Serena Williams and Karolina Pliskova.
This triumph is the latest peak in a surging career for Romania's best player, and comes off the back of reaching her fifth WTA final of the season in Beijing.
In the last 52 weeks, Halep has won the Madrid Open for the third Premier Mandatory title of her career, and reached the final of the French Open, the Italian Open and the Cincinnati Open, and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon.
This season, she's scored five Top 10 victories and has made the last eight in 11 of her past 13 tournaments.
At the conclusion of the 2017 Wimbledon Championships, Halep became the active player with the longest streak of consecutive weeks ranked inside the world's Top 10.
Halep entered the Top 10 for the first time on January 27, 2014, and has been there ever since.
From Evert to Halep: All 25 WTA World No.1s
Halep will be presented with the WTA World No.1 Trophy, the focal point of which is a silver "star-map" tennis ball that represents the tennis universe. All World No.1s, past and present, are depicted by a diamond in the sky, which represents each champion’s mark on the sport.
Halep is one of seven women to have qualified in singles for the 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global later this month – an event at which she made her debut in 2014, when she reached the final.
