Who is defending most ranking money during clay court season as Ons Jabeur and Beatriz Haddad Maia both under threat

As certain WTA stars continue to boost their rankings or stabilise them, others are fighting to save theirs with Ons Jabeur and Beatriz Haddad Maia defending a heavy points total as the clay court season begins this week with Charleston leading the way.

Jabeur is in horrific form and will hope to turn to clay to save her season, she was a Roland Garros Quarter-Finalist last year so will be defending big points being a proficient clay court player and after recent losses to Mirra Andreeva and Elina Avanesyan in particular, she is in disarray. She will face Danielle Collins likely also to begin her clay court campaign so it is certainly no rest for the wicked and no sort of ease in terms of her turning her game around.

Marketa Vondrousova also is a player who will defend heavy albeit mostly at Wimbledon meaning she will want a cushion to shoulder the 2000 potential blow from Wimbledon. She only has one Quarter-Final this season in a real cause for concern and has five wins compared to five losses after recent injury struggles. The Czech ace is known for her clay court exploits and will hope to reignite after a poor time since winning her maiden Grand Slam.

Another player who comes alive both on grass and clay is Beatriz Haddad Maia but is sat at 8-9 this season. She is 30th in the year end rankings and reached the last four of Roland Garros last year. She could feasibly fall out of the top 20 after the coming weeks. Veronika Kudermetova has both semi-finals at Rome and Madrid to defend in the coming weeks and could find herself dropping heavily.

Barbora Krejcikova has been affected by serious health problems in recent months and alongside Karolina Muchova is part of a trio of Czech players defending a lot this time of the year. She will hope to return and mount a strong case but is another that will need a big turn in fortunes.