Aryna Sabalenka entered the 2025 US Open at risk of losing her No. 1 ranking. She leaves New York with her second consecutive title in New York and in a commanding position to finish as the year-end No. 1 for the second year in a row.
Sabalenka could have lost the top ranking to Iga Swiatek or Coco Gauff with an early U.S. Open exit.
Instead, after again lifting the trophy in New York, Sabalenka now holds an advantage of about 3,200 ranking points over second-ranked Swiatek in the PIF WTA Rankings. That’s about the equivalent of a Grand Slam title plus a WTA 1000 title plus a WTA 250 title.
Who moved up the WTA rankings during the summer hard-court season?
There are still two months to go on the WTA’s 2025 calendar, including a pair of WTA 1000 events plus the WTA Finals in November. However, it seems only injury or a complete collapse could keep Sabalenka from finishing as the year-end No. 1.
Sabalenka now has 54 total weeks at No. 1, the 13th-best total of all time.
US Open runner-up Amanda Anisimova made the biggest jump within the top 10, leaping from No. 7 to a career-best No. 4. Clara Tauson made the biggest move within the top 20, moving from No. 19 to a career-best No. 12.
Canadian teen Victoria Mboko parlayed her Cinderella run to the title at the WTA 1000 event in her home country into a 63-spot post-Wimbledon jump up the rankings, the biggest move within the top 100. She started the summer hard-court season ranked No. 86. She’s now No. 23.
Naomi Osaka fell to Mboko in the final in Canada, but used that performance as a springboard to reach the US Open semifinals. Those two results propelled Osaka from No. 49 after Wimbledon to No. 14 after the U.S. Open.
Barbora Krejcikova, the 2024 Wimbledon champion who fell to No. 78 in July, is already back up to No. 40 after reaching the US Open quarterfinals.
Who moved down?
Emma Navarro fell from just outside the top 10 to No. 18 after winning just three total matches during the summer hard-court season. Paula Badosa, once No. 2 in the world, is down to No. 20 after missing the summer events due to a back injury.
Who’s about to rise?
Of the players currently ranked outside the top eight, current No. 10 Elena Rybakina is best-positioned to move into the top eight in time to qualify for the WTA Finals in November. Current No. 12 Clara Tauson also isn’t defending many ranking points this fall and could continue her rise up the rankings with some strong post-US Open results.
Who could fall?
Current No. 9 Qinwen Zheng has missed the last few months due to elbow surgery and must defend a big chunk of her ranking points the next two months. If she isn’t able to approach her results from last fall, she’ll fall out of the top 15.
9 years ago this happened
This week in 2016, Serena Williams’ record-tying streak of 186 consecutive weeks at No. 1 came to an end. Angelique Kerber, who had just won the US Open for her second major title of the year, displaced Williams at No. 1. Williams’ streak tied Steffi Graf’s 186-week reign from 1987 to 1991 as the longest run.