Although she is still in shock at Iga Swiatek losing her World No.1 spot, Jessica Pegula believes that Aryna Sabalenka deserves to be the new top-ranked player in the world.

Swiatek's US Open title defense came to an end in the fourth round, as she fell to a red-hot Jelena Ostapenko. This loss ensured Sabalenka would be the new World No.1 at the conclusion of the US Open, as the Belarusian only needed to match Swiatek's Flushing Meadows performance to gain the top spot.

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Pegula surprised at the sudden change atop the rankings

In a recent press conference, Pegula expressed her surprise at the new shift in power. However, the American stated Sabalenka was deserving of the ranking, based on her superb performances this season.

"Yeah, it's kind of crazy," admitted Pegula. "Coco Gauff and I talked about it in doubles. We're like, it's kind of weird because, I mean, Iga still made second week, she's still been going deep in every tournament and doing well. It wasn't enough to keep her there. That's crazy.

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"Coco is like, 'I don't know what more she could have done?' I was like, 'I guess win the tournament again'. That's it,"

"It's hard when Aryna has had good results in all of the Slams and a lot of the big tournaments," she added. "Yeah, I think it's well-deserved. I think she's been knocking on the door for quite a while. It's nice to see that change and see her get rewarded for how well she's been playing, her consistency, especially in the slams."