Madrid: Simona Halep of Romania continued to lead the Women’s Tennis Association rankings released on Monday, while United States’ Sloane Stephens managed to leap into the top 10 for the first time in her career.
Stephens won a 7-6, 6-1 match on Saturday afternoon over Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who maintained her fifth position in the rankings, in the Miami Open final.
Stephens’ victory allowed her to climb three places to be ranked ninth.
Meanwhile, other players on the top 10 list maintained their positions except for Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who fell one spot replacing Germany’s Angelique Kerber.
Rafael Nadal reclaimed top spot in the men’s ATP rankings after Swiss rival Roger Federer crashed out in Miami to American John Isner.
Nadal, who hasn’t hit a ball in anger since pulling out of the Australian Open quarter-finals in January, saw Federer take over top spot on February 18.
The Swiss veteran, however, slipped 10 points behind his Spanish rival and into second place after a second round defeat to Isner that saw the towering American leap eight places to ninth thanks to his eventual victory Sunday in the Masters 1000 event.
Isner thus equals his previous best ranking of ninth, reached in April 2012, while beaten finalist Alexander Zverev of Germany moved up one place to fourth.
