Barty up 6 places, set to challenge Osaka's throne

Australia's Ashleigh Barty has jumped six places in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, released on Monday, to challenge Naomi Osakas dominance. She is only 136 points away from dethroning the Japanese star.

Thanks to winning the French Open title this weekend, Barty, now world No. 2, is breathing down world No. 1 Osaka's neck who lost her bid for a third consecutive Grand Slam title, after the 2018 US Open and 2019 Australian Open. Osaka lost to the Czech Katerina Siniakova at the tournament's third round, reports Efe news.

Barty was crowned in Paris after defeating the Czech Marketa Vondrousova in straight sets 6-1, 6-3. As a runner-up, Vondrousova rocketed 22 places to be included in the top-20 by reaching the 16th position.

Barty's victory moved Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic one spot down to third in the rankings.

The most affected was former world No. 1 Simona Halep of Romania, who dropped five places to No. 8 after losing in the quarterfinals to Amanda Anisimova of the USA. Halep topped the rankings for 64 weeks, 48 consecutively, and finished 2017 and 2018 as the leader.

Meanwhile, Garbiñe Muguruza, winner of the 2016 Roland Garros tournament, left the top-20 list and fell six spots to world No. 25 after being eliminated from the round of 16 in Paris at the hands of world No. 9 Sloane Stephens of the USA.

Stephens dropped two positions as she left the tournament in the quarterfinals after being defeated by world No. 18 Johanna Konta 6-1, 6-4.

Further down the rankings, Iga Swiatek of Poland jumped 37 spots to occupy the 67th position after reaching Roland Garros round of 16, where she was defeated by Halep, while Aliona Bolsova of Spain ascended 47 places to be world No. 90 for qualifying for the last 16 in the French capital.

The current WTA rankings and point scores are:

1. Naomi Osaka (Japan) 6,486 points

2. Ashleigh Barty (Australia) 6,350

3. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 5,685

4. Kiki Bertens (The Netherlands) 5,345

5. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 4,925

6. Angelique Kerber (Germany) 4,675

7. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 3,967

8. Simona Halep (Romania) 3,963

9. Sloane Stephens (The USA) 3,682

10. Aryna Sabalenka (Belarus) 3,565.

--IANS

kk/pcj