As the calendar flips to a new week, the leaderboards have a new twist. The WTA500 Dubai, ATP250 Marseille, ATP250 Doha, ATP250 Dre Beach and ATP500 Rio ended last week.
Alcaraz
Alcaraz ranked among the TOP20
The 18-year-old Spanish teenager Alcaraz won last week's Rio tournament, becoming the youngest ATP 500-level champion since 2009 and the youngest player in the world's top twenty players. Alcaraz rose nine places to 20th, setting a new career high with rio championship points, when he beat Argentine schwartzman in the men's singles final in Rio.
Nori
Nori's state recovers
After winning last year's Indian Wells Masters, Norie soared in the rankings and became a British brother. However, Nori's performance in Australia this year was sluggish, he lost all three games in the ATP Cup, and then exited the first round of the Australian Open. At Dre Beach last week, 26-year-old Nori beat homegrown cannon Opelka in the men's singles final to win his third career title, and his ranking moved up one place to 12th.
Bashirashvili returns to the TOP20
Bashirashvili, 29, reached the men's singles final in Doha last week, losing to Spain's Agut in second place. It is worth mentioning that as the defending champion of the tournament, Bashirashvili beat Agut in the men's singles final last year to win the championship. Georgian players moved up three places in the rankings this week to 19th.
Ostapenko
Ostapenko returns to the TOP20
Former French Open champion Ostapenko beat four consecutive Grand Slam champions Kenning, Svatek, Kvitova and Halep in Dubai last week to win the title in the final. With the title, Ostapenko's ranking rose from 25th to 13th this week, the latvian's best ranking since October 2018.
Kudmetova set a new career high
Russian player Kudmetova, 24, reached the women's singles final in Dubai last week, losing to Ostapenko as runners-up. Kudmetova has reached the Tour final twice this season, including the Melbourne 250 Series at the beginning of the year. Kudmetova's world rankings have risen from 31st to 25th, and the Russian has remained within the top 50 since September 2019 for 129 consecutive weeks.
Czech rising stars shine on the WTA arena
The 14-year-old Czech teenager Vluvitova achieved an impressive record of 13 wins and 1 loss at the ITF in the 2022 season, and after winning two ITF titles, Fruveltova's ranking soared 176 places, reaching 435th this week. In Guadalajara this week, the Czech teenager competed with a qualifying wild card, winning two consecutive matches to make her debut at the WTA Tour, where she lost two sets in the first round of the women's singles to former US Open champion Stephens.
(Text, Editor/Faye Wong, Photo/Visual China)