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It was a bit of a cooler week on the WTA Tour for the period running from February 27th to March 5th. In comparison to the three tournaments that were played for the previous seven-day rankings run, this last week saw the completion of just two events. For clarity, these tournaments were both 250-level WTA events – the Abierto GNP Seguros and the ATX Open. In case you missed the action, these were both hard-court events with plenty of top-level players involved.
As for the respective winners of each tournament, it was Vekic and Kostyuk who took the spoils in Mexico and the USA, respectively. Therefore, you won’t find it surprising to see these two players feature in our ‘climber of the week’ section. However, while it was a successful week for these two players, along with several others, the same wasn’t true for a few unfortunate individuals who have slid down the ladder.
Anyway, you’re no doubt intrigued as to who has moved where and how this has happened. So let me move on from the overview of what’s been played and start discussing the intricate details of the new WTA rankings as of March 6th, 2023.
WTA Rankings Updates – Week Commencing March 6th
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Given that the two tournaments completed this week were played at the 250 level, this means that there hasn’t been enormous movement at the top of the tree. In fact, there has been very little movement if you look at the WTA top 20. However, if you look outside of the top 20, you’ll notice that there have been significant jumps up the ladder for a few key players. At the same time, there have been some quite drastic drops in the WTA rankings over the previous seven days.
With that in mind, as I aim to do on a weekly basis, I’ve kicked things off by focusing on those that have enjoyed a great week – all details can be viewed below.
The Week’s Biggest Climbers – Collins, Kostyuk, Vekic, Zhu, and Mertens Feature
Allow me to address the player who has jumped by the greatest number of spots over the last seven days first – Marta Kostyuk. This talented player from Ukraine has managed to leap up the ladder by 12 spaces this week, moving from outside of the top 50 to her new ranking of 40. Needless to say, that’s a big rise in the rankings, especially since she is now inside the top 50. And the reason behind such a rise is that Kostyuk won the ATX Open, despite entering the event as the number 8 seed.
Following on from the success of Kostyuk we have both Donna Vekic and Lin Zhu. These two players both jumped up the WTA rankings ladder by 8 spots this week, and they were both involved in the Abierto GNP Seguros event in Mexico. In fact, Vekic actually beat Lin Zhu in the semi-finals before moving on to lift the trophy. To achieve this, Vekic beat the top seed and world number 5, Caroline Garcia, in a thrilling three-setter. As for their new positions in the rankings, Zhu is now ranked 33, whereas Vekic is now ranked 23.
And finally, as you’ve seen from the listings above, two other players that deserve a mention include Danielle Collins and Elise Mertens. Starting with Collins, she’s jumped 7 spots to take a new ranking of 31. This follows her run to the semi-finals in the ATX Open, where she then lost to Kostyuk. As for Mertens, she also made the semi-finals last week in Mexico before losing to Garcia. This has taken the German up five spots to number 37 in the world.
The Week’s Biggest Fallers – Shocker for Fernandez and Osorio
Now that I’ve looked at the most successful players over the last seven days, let’s look into the ‘not so successful’ players. So, starting with the player who has fallen by the highest number of rankings spots in the last seven days, unfortunately, the title goes to Camila Osorio of Colombia. This player has fallen by a whopping 30 rankings spots in just one week, taking her all the way down to number 100 in the WTA rankings. And while I do try and focus on the top players with each weekly update, this was such a slide that I just had to mention it.
As for the other, higher profile player who has endured a battering in the rankings this week, this player is Leylah Fernandez. The young Canadian has fallen down the ladder by 17 positions in the last seven days, taking her down to 49 in the WTA rankings from 32. This is a huge drop for a player who has previously competed for a Grand Slam title. However, this fall from grace has come about because she didn’t actually compete in any events last week. Therefore, by failing to compete, she has lost points that she had earned at this point in the 2022 season.
This is, of course, not the direction that Fernandez wants to be moving in. And this puts added pressure on Fernandez to perform in the upcoming Sunshine Swing in the USA.
Top Rankings Stories – First Title for Marta Kostyuk
As is the case with each WTA rankings update that I create, there’s always a bunch of rankings stories that could be covered. However, when I reach the end of the update, it’s often a difficult choice to pick just one story from the pack. But with that said, I feel that the story of Marta Kostyuk capturing her first WTA title deserves its spot at the top here. And I say that because while there are obviously plenty of players floating around in the top 100 rankings, people tend to forget how hard it is to win a WTA-level tournament.
Yet that’s exactly what Marta Kostyuk has been able to do over the weekend. She’s come from nowhere really to go out there and win her maiden WTA title in style. As a quick refresher – Kostyuk won the event in Austin, Texas, known as the ATX Open. She was the number 8 seed going into the tournament, yet she was truly dominant in pretty much all of her matches to lift the trophy.
And now, at 40 in the world, I have a feeling that this momentum could continue!
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