Barty tops WTA ranking for 70th straight week; Nadal moves up

PARIS: Ashleigh Barty, who won in Stutgart at the weekend, remains comfortably the world number one for the 70th week, 1,855 points ahead of the Japanese Naomi Osaka in the WTA rankings published on Monday.

The Australian, who opted to skip much of the 2020 season due to Covid-19 safety concerns, has benefited from an interim system, put in place for the duration of the pandemic, allowing players to count their best 16 tournaments dating back to March 2019 instead of the usual 52-week cycle.

The 25-year-old has underlined her credentials by winning three tour titles in 2021. She has not lost to a top-10 player since being beaten by Dutchwoman Kiki Bertens in the WTA Finals round-robin match in Shenzhen in 2019.

Karolina Muchova makes her first appearance in the top 20 while Sorana Cirstea, who won her second circuit title in Istanbul on Sunday 13 years ater the first, climbs nine places to 58th.

Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal’s hard-fought win in Barcelona at the weekend sees the Spaniard replacing Daniil Medvedev as world No. 2 behind Novak Djokovic in the ATP rankings released on Monday.

The 34-year-old Mallorcan, who won on Catalan clay for the 12th time in his career, is 110 points ahead of Medvedev.

It was Nadal’s 61st title on clay, extending his record on the surface -- the next most successful player on the surface is the Argentinian Guillermo Vilas who won 49 -- and he will again start as favourite for the French Open which begins at Roland Garros on May 30.

Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, beaten in the final in Barcelona by Nadal ater having a match point, remains in fith, behind the Austrian Dominic Thiem.

Spaniard Pablo Carreno is up to 12th at the expense of Belgian David Goffin while 19-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner, who lost to Tsitsipas in the semi-finals in Barcelona, has climbed to 18th, the best ranking of his young career.

Meanwhile, Italy’s Mateo Berretini won his fourth career title on Sunday defeating Aslan Karatsev, who had stunned Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, in the Belgrade clay court final.

The 25-year-old Berretini, the world number 10, triumphed 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (7/0) over the Russian who was seeking his second title of 2021 ater winning in Dubai.

Berretini won previous titles at Gstaad in 2018 and Stutgart and Budapest, both in 2019. On Saturday, the 28th-ranked Karatsev had knocked out world number one Djokovic in the semi-final, saving 23 of 28 break points.