Paula Badosa, Emma Raducanu and Jaqueline Cristian all rose into new echelons in this week's singles rankings, while Hsieh Su-wei reclaimed WTA Doubles World No.1 from her partner. Read on ...
Badosa makes Top 10 debut
Paula Badosa climbed one spot in the WTA Singles Rankings this week to make her first appearance in the Top 10, at No.10. The milestone caps a tremendous season for Badosa, which she started as the World No.70.
Since then, Badosa won her first WTA singles title in Belgrade, reached her first Grand Slam quarterfinal at Roland Garros and earned a huge trophy for her second WTA singles title at the WTA 1000 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. These exploits allowed her to qualify for this week's Akron WTA Finals.
Read more: Road to the WTA Finals: Badosa emerges as all-court threat in breakout season
Badosa becomes the fifth Spaniard to reach the Top 10 since the inception of the WTA Singles Rankings in 1975. She joins an elite group containing former World No.1 players Arantxa Sanchez Vicario and Garbiñe Muguruza, former World No.2 Conchita Martinez and former World No.6 Carla Suárez Navarro.
A breakthrough year gets even better 💫
— wta (@WTA) November 8, 2021
Welcome to the Top 10, @paulabadosa! pic.twitter.com/mhaVn7Phwz
Raducanu makes Top 20 debut
Another of this year's surging stars, Emma Raducanu, joined the Top 20 for the first time in her career this week. The reigning US Open champion rose one spot to No.20 in Monday's rankings, becoming the fifth British woman to reach those heights.
Raducanu, 18, burst to international prominence at Wimbledon, making the round of 16 as a wildcard ranked No.338. Even more heroics awaited at the following Grand Slam event in New York.
Coming into the US Open ranked No.150, Raducanu swept through three qualifying matches and seven main-draw matches without the loss of a set to become the first qualifier to win a Grand Slam singles title.
In her most recent event, Raducanu reached the quarterfinals at Cluj-Napoca. She will play her final tour-level event of the year in Linz this week, where she is the No.1 seed. Raducanu opens her Linz campaign Tuesday against Chinese qualifier Wang Xinyu.
Only the 5⃣th British woman to break into the @WTA top 2⃣0⃣#BackTheBrits 🇬🇧 pic.twitter.com/7QWlQsEnJX
— LTA (@the_LTA) November 8, 2021
Cristian cracks Top 100 for first time
Jaqueline Cristian is the latest Romanian to make an appearance in the WTA Top 100. The 23-year-old moves up four notches to debut in that group at No.100.
There are five Romanians currently inside the Top 100. Cristian joins former World No.1 Simona Halep (World No.22), Sorana Cirstea (No.37), Irina-Camelia Begu (No.60) and Elena-Gabriela Ruse (No.83).
Read more: Simona Halep inspires fellow Romanian Jaqueline Cristian
Cristian began the season ranked World No.168, but kickstarted her ranking rise with a run to her first WTA quarterfinal at St. Petersburg in March. As the year progressed, she reached her first WTA semifinal at Nur-Sultan as well as additional quarterfinals in Palermo and Cluj-Napoca.
This week, Cristian entered the Linz main draw as a lucky loser. On Monday, she outlasted Kamilla Rakhimova 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 to make the second round.
Hsieh returns to WTA Doubles World No.1
Hsieh Su-wei is back on top of the WTA Doubles Rankings. The 35-year-old from Chinese Taipei ticks off her 47th week at WTA Doubles World No.1; she displaces her current partner Elise Mertens at the top of the standings.
Hsieh, who first reached WTA Doubles No.1 in 2014, is up three spots from No.4 this week. Hsieh won two WTA doubles titles alongside Mertens this year, at Wimbledon and Indian Wells.
Hsieh also hit a singles milestone this season, reaching her first Grand Slam singles quarterfinal at the 2021 Australian Open.