WTA Prize Money Leaders Update: Sabalenka and Swiatek dominate the top, Leylah Fernandez surges up the list

The WTA Prize Money Leaders list was updated this week, with Elena Rybakina being the only player to make a move inside the top 10 after reaching the semifinals at the DC Open. The former Wimbledon champion is now in 9th place in a ranking dominated by world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka ($6.7M), despite not having won any Grand Slam titles.

Majors are the tournaments that offer the most money, which partly explains why the podium is completed by Iga Swiatek ($6.3M) – the Wimbledon champion – and Coco Gauff ($5.6M) – the French Open champion. In the case of Madison Keys – the Australian Open champion from earlier this year – she manages to reach 5th place, with earnings over $3.7M.

The player who manages to break into the top 5 is Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva, with $3.9M for the year, earned primarily by winning titles at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and Indian Wells. The Russian also adds over $500K in earnings from doubles draws – where she often competes with Diana Shnaider. Another player who benefits from doubles appearances is Jasmine Paolini, who has $680K from doubles out of her total of $3.3M for the year. The Italian climbs to 6th place, benefiting from her great campaigns alongside Sara Errani.

Leylah Fernandez moved up 10 positions after winning the WTA 500 DC Open title, finally surpassing one million dollars in earnings for the season ($1.1M). The Canadian's earnings total $1.09M, putting her at 26th on the list. So far, 32 female players have surpassed one million dollars in earnings from both singles and doubles tournaments.

Some, like Elise Mertens (15th), Veronika Kudermetova (17th), Diana Shnaider (29th), and Olivia Gadecki (22nd), are players who achieve a high position by mixing strong campaigns in both singles and doubles, with the latter being a significant part of their respective prize money totals.

Fernandez defeated Anna Kalinskaya in the final, a player who had not received much attention all year. The Russian moved from No. 43 to No. 37 among the WTA's top earners, getting closer to one million dollars, which she could achieve in the coming weeks at the Canadian Open or Cincinnati with a couple of victories in those tournaments.

Emma Raducanu was another player who advanced two positions, adding almost $100K in earnings and coming close to surpassing the million-dollar mark for the year. The Brit enters a stage of the year that has been previously beneficial for her, and she has shown a very high level of play to compete with the best, receiving a boost in both her ranking and her income after her first WTA 500 semifinal.

Further down the list are doubles specialists Katerina Siniakova (11th) and Taylor Townsend (23rd). Townsend moved up one position after winning the DC Open title alongside Shuai Zhang. The American has reached $1.75M in earnings this year, with nearly $1.4M coming from doubles tournaments alone. Although doubles tournaments have lower prize money – which is also split between both players – the dominance of Siniakova and Townsend allows them to surpass several prominent singles players. These two are the only players who have earned over one million dollars exclusively from doubles draws.

Belinda Bencic was displaced to 13th place, while further back on the list are names like Jelena Ostapenko (14th), Zheng Qinwen (19th), Emma Navarro (23rd), and Paula Badosa (24th).