The Australian Open created quite a turbulence in the rankings and one of major changes is the climb of Eugenie Bouchard, whose semifinal appearance at the Grand Slam propelled her from No.31 to world No.19. The 19-year-old is now in the Top 20 for the first time and has become the third Canadian to achieve the feat.
The WTA is already leveraging on Bouchard’s popularity and she was the one who, with the help of her legendary colleague Chris Evert, officially launched the Road to Singapore, the new location of the WTA Championships. The prestigious tournament will be redesigned to provide even more pleasure and entertainment to the fans: the competition period will be expanded from six to seven days, the doubles will have eight teams as opposed to earlier four, and there will be exhibitions and activities for fans around the world.
Let’s get back to the new rankings. Another major rise is that of the Australian Open runner-up Dominika Cibulkova, who went from No.24 to No.13. Her career best is No.12. Australian Open champion Li Na returned to No.3 and is just 11 points from No.2, the position occupied by Victoria Azarenka.
Simona Halep became the 107th player to break the Top 10 and the third Romanian to have joined the elite 10. Halep pushed Caroline Wozniacki out of the Top 10, to No.11, while Sloane Stephens experiences an even bigger drop, falling from No.13 to No.18, having lost in the fourth round as opposed to her last year’s semifinals.
Should I mention that Serena Williams is still overlooking the rest from her firm No.1 position?
Interesting that Bouchard helped to launch the event. The WTA have already twigged she is going to be huge for the tour. The first picture is odd… Bouchard looks like a brunette!
James, they know where the money’s at. I love the first picture, what a cityscape!