Ranking movers: Rybakina into Top 20, Kung jumps 127 spots

Elena Rybakina’s sparkling for at the St Petersburg Ladies Trophy, in which she reached the final, has been reflected in a jump up the WTA Rankings to No.19 – a career best for the 20-year-old.

The No.8 seed in Russia made impressive progress through the tournament, overcoming Katerina Siniakova and Fiona Ferro without dropping a set in the opening two rounds. She then fought back to overturn deficits against both Océane Dodin and Maria Sakkari but found Kiki Bertens too strong a rival in the final.

Nevertheless, the Kazakhstan player has continued her impressive run, which has seen her rise from WTA World No.192 a year ago and lift the title in Hobart earlier this year.

The big ranking jump this week, however, came from 19-year-old Leonie Kung, who made headlines playing in just her second WTA Tour main draw as she qualified then made a run all the way to the final in Hua Hin.

Having been the WTA World No.283 when the week began, she has almost halved her ranking by making a jump of 127 spots upwards to No.156.

Here are some of the week’s other notable ranking movers:

Belinda Bencic (+1, No.5 to No.4): The Swiss has moved deeper into the world’s Top 5, with moving to a career-best ranking after reaching the quarterfinals in St Petersburg, where she was ultimately ousted by Sakkari in three sets.

Ekaterina Alexandrova (+3, No.28 to No.25): The Russian gave a strong account of herself in St Petersburg, where she defeated No.7 seed Donna Vekic before falling in the semis to eventual champions Bertens.

Magda Linette (+9, No.42 to No.33): Won her second WTA Tour title in Hua Hin and has moved to a career-best ranking off the back of her success. The 28-year-old dropped only one set all week.

Nao Hibino (+9, No.84 to No.75): Recorded a career-best victory as she defeated Elina Svitolina in Hua Hin as she moved through to the semifinals as the No.8 seed. She now posts her highest ranking since September 2017.

Anastasia Potapova (+20, No.101 to No.81): Enjoyed a stellar rise deep into the Top 100 after making impressive progress in St Petersburg. Negotiated two qualifiers with ease before defeating Ludmilla Samsonova and Ajla Tomljanovic in the main draw. Fell to Bertens in the quarters.

Patricia Maria Tig (+21, No.105 to No.84): Eliminated Zheng Saisai on the way to a surprise semifinal berth in Hua Hin, where she fell to eventual champion Linette in two tough sets. Now only one spot short of her career-best ranking, which was achieved in April 2017.

Irina-Camelia Begu (+21, No.118 to No.97): The champion of a W100 ITF event in Cairo, Egypt, in which she beat Lesia Tsurenko over three sets in the final.

Olga Govortsova (+49, No.188 to No.139): Defeated Astra Sharma and Madison Brengle en route wit winning a W100 ITF event in Nicholasville, KY.