WTA Rankings Update: Aryna Sabalenka set to stay top for at least another nine weeks as Mboko, Tjen and Eala reach new highs

Aryna Sabalenka will stay atop the WTA Rankings for at least another nine weeks as the World No.1 heads to Riyadh this week as the Year End No.1 for the first time with no fight at the top for her top spot at least till the start of next year.

Sabalenka ordinarily is embroiled in a battle with Iga Swiatek but despite the Pole winning Wimbledon, her season has been up and down and with a poor clay court season she as of yet won't catch Sabalenka. Albeit given she was banned up until this tournament last year and Sabalenka defends an Australian Open final, it is likely early next year that battle will ensue once more.

The top 10 remains fairly unchanged with Sabalenka followed by Swiatek, Coco Gauff, Amanda Anisimova, Jessica Pegula, Elena Rybakina, Madison Keys and Jasmine Paolini. They all didn't play and their positions and points are unchanged.

Albeit of course this week is the WTA Finals so positions could change in what is the final week of the regular season. Gauff in particular is under threat as Anisimova in particular if she manages to get a win on the board on Monday and eventually reach the knockout stages would then have a chance to usurp Gauff with a late run.

Pegula who beat Gauff in her WTA Finals opener also has a chance to find her way past her former doubles partner but she would need to win the tournament undefeated and reach various caveats to do so. As a result Anisimova on paper is the only one really who could catch Gauff barring a miracle.

Sabalenka's reign as World No.1 will continue for at least another two months up until January and she now sits on 54 consecutive weeks at the top. She now sits on 63 weeks as World No.1 and staying there for another extended period means she will surpass Caroline Wozniacki and Lindsay Davenport is 10th on 98 who will be the next target.

But overall given the dominance of Sabalenka could even be further if she would've won Grand Slam finals in Australia as well as near misses in Paris and even London, she could be even further up the track going into next year so still good going.

Victoria Mboko is perhaps the biggest story of the season when it comes to ranking rises and after sealing a title this past week at the Hong Kong Open, she will end the year inside the world's top 20. She was ranked World No.333 to start the year with Leylah Fernandez also owing to the fact that Bianca Andreescu's rotten injury luck continues to blight her was far and away the top Canadian.

But in one year, she has been usurped by the teenager who moves up to World No.18 with her run to the title in Hong Kong beating Cristina Bucsa to win her second WTA title following her Canadian Open triumph in August. Mboko beat Fernandez in the semi-final which also gave her that top Canadian spot.

She also defeated Alexandra Eala who has also had an exceptional year. She has broken into the top 50 for the first time and is now exactly 50th. She started the year as World No.138 but in particular her run to the Miami Open semi-final saw her break into the top 100 and another milestone has now been reached for the Filipina.

While other top stars to have new milestones and cap off brilliant years include the story of the French Open in Lois Boisson who ends her season in 36th. She hit headlines prior to her semi-final run and winning Hamburg for deodorant gate with Harriet Dart with the Brit complaining to the umpire that she wasn't wearing deodorant.

But it kind of worked in the opposite way as Boisson managed to thrive after that incident in making it out of the smaller tournaments and up into the top 50 and now the top 30 beckons while Dart barely won a match for a long while afterwards and is not on the radar of Boulter, Raducanu and Kartal in the Brit battle.

Eva Lys has also had a great year and has regained the German No.1 spot as well as ending the season in the top 40. Reaching a major fourth round for the first time and a Quarter-Final in China just some weeks ago. As many have also marvelled, she does all of this suffering with an autoimmune disease which makes playing impossible on some days but has still managed to find consistency.

Others to shine this week include Janice Tjen who won her maiden WTA singles title at the Chennai Open this past week defeating Kimberly Birrell in the final. She finished runner up in Sao Paolo in September and was World No.411 in January and sits on the cusp of top 50. While amid Kasatkina's continued fall, it could be Birrell who takes advantage in the coming months with Maya Joint out in front as Aussie No.1 but she moved up 23 spots to World No.94.

No doubt in returning home she'll get the chance to build on it with tournaments in Australia likely giving her and other Aussie's wildcards. While Anna Blinkova has jumped 32 spots to World No.63 after she managed to win Jiangxi. Formerly World No.34, she will look now to rise towards her previous heights.

Something Katie Boulter will now have to do as she has dropped towards the top 100 trap door slipping 21 spots to World No.100 following her retirement from her first round in Hong Kong. After sitting in the summer having a battle with Raducanu and Kartal for top Brit, she is now behind Francesca Jones even and was World No.23 just a short time ago. She had a great end to 2024 though and is now paying for that in a ranking fall with her form falling off a cliff in 2025.