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WTA Race Rankings: 23rd March, Halep takes top position

By Geoff Nichols

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WTA Race Rankings: 23rd March, Halep takes top position

Simona Halep has risen to the top of the WTA Race Rankings after her victory in the final of Indian Wells over Jelena Jankovic. The Romanian overtakes Serena Williams in the Race, with the American world number 1 forced into withdrawing before her semi final.

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For Halep, only 23 years of age, the position at the helm of the Race represents a consistent start to 2015. No one player has stamped their authority on the tour as yet this season and despite only making the quarter finals at the Australian Open, she has secured sufficient points to top the standings.

Three months into the new season and the Race rankings are starting to take shape and truly reflect which players have started the year playing their best tennis. For a full run through of how the Race rankings are calculated and how they differ from the official WTA rankings, see here.

Race Rankings – 1 to 10

PlacePlayerNationPoints
 1Simona HalepROU2620
 2Serena WilliamsUSA2400
 3Maria SharapovaRUS2010
 4Karolina PliskovaCZE1445
 5Carla Suarez NavarroESP1115
 6Ekaterina MakarovaRUS1101
 7Timea BacsinszkySUI1085
 8Caroline WozniackiDEN1056
 9Venus WilliamsUSA1010
 10Madison KeysUSA965

Serena Williams cements her place in the top three thanks to a solid run on her much talked about return to Indian Wells which was somewhat ironically curtailed by injury. She is joined in the Race top ten by sister Venus Williams, who seems to be steadily returning to form.

The most surprising name within the top ten is arguably Timea Bacsinszky of Switzerland. The beauty of the Race standings is that is is more representative of recent form and despite her world ranking being down at 23, her impressive start to 2015 sees her sit at 7th in the Race.

Race Rankings – 11 to 20

PlacePlayerNationPoints
 11Petra KvitovaCZE915
 12Lucie SafarovaCZE846
 13Jelena JankovicSRB786
 14Garbine MuguruzaESP766
 15Caroline GarciaFRA696
 16Barbora StrycovaCZE660
 17Sara ErraniITA627
 18Victoria AzarenkaBLR621
 19Ana IvanovicSRB605
 20Andrea PetkovicGER603

Jelena Jankovic is rewarded for her gutsy run to the Indian Wells semi finals as she rises to number 17 in the Race and will be looking to continue her form into the Miami Masters and the conclusion of the American hard court swing.

Another player who is making good progress that is reflected more in the race than the normal rankings is Victoria Azarenka. The Belarussian has not had it all her own way as she travels down the comeback trail, facing a number of tough draws due to being unseeded.

Having now risen to 18th in the Race, she will soon be returning to the upper echelons of the women’s game and this will translate to a better ranking the in the big events.

Selected Others

British youngster Heather Watson is making her way up the Race standings and was a close to progressing even further in Indian Wells but ultimately didn’t have enough left in the tank. With the impending return of Laura Robson, Watson will be even more motivated to continue her impressive start to 2015.

The ever popular German Sabine Lisicki is languishing down the 29th in the race, which is particularly unusual given that almost all of her points were earned with her semi final run in Indian Wells. It will be interesting to follow her and see if she can replicate this form in Miami.

Next: Will Stan Wawrinka be a one slam wonder?

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