The top six in the WTA Rankings will remain unchanged after the Italian Open, but Elena Rybakina will feel she missed an opportunity to crank up the heat on Aryna Sabalenka at No 1.

Sabalenka has been sitting pretty at the top since October 2024 and she was always assured of remaining there after the Rome WTA 1000 event, but her shock defeat in the third round opened the door for Rybakina to close the gap.

The four-time Grand Slam winner started the tournament with a 1,555 lead over the Kazakh star and an early defeat meant she was -150 in terms of ranking points following her exit, putting her on 9,960 points.

With Rybakina reaching the quarter-final and already assured of 150 points (she dropped 65 from her 2025 run), it meant the lead there was a 300-point swing with the lead down to 1,255.

A title run would’ve resulted in Rybakina reducing the lead to 620 points, but the reigning Australian Open champion failed to make it past the last eight as she was beaten by Elina Svitolina in three sets.

The lead thus remains 1,555 and it will increase next week as Rybakina will drop 500 points from her Strasbourg title run 12 months ago.

WTA Top 10 before Italian Open (4 May)

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 10,110
2. Elena Rybakina – 8,555
3. Iga Swiatek – 7,984
4. Coco Gauff – 7,749
5. Jessica Pegula – 6,136
6. Amanda Anisimova – 5,985
7. Mirra Andreeva – 4,181
8. Jasmine Paolini – 3,722
9. Victoria Mboko – 3,531
10. Elina Svitolina – 3,530

No 3 Iga Swiatek also had an opportunity to edge closer to Rybakina with a title run, but her progress was also stunted by Svitolina as the Ukrainian won their semi-final encounter.

However, the Pole’s run to the last four was good enough to keep her ahead of Coco Gauff even if the American goes on to win the title. Gauff finished runner-up to Jasmine Paolini last year and she has defended her points with another run to the final.

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The top four are followed by Jessica Pegula, Amanda Anisimova, Mirra Andreeva, Svitolina and Victoria Mboko. Svitolina is up two places following her run to the final and she will move ahead of Andreeva if she beats Gauff.

There will be a different name in the top 10 after the Rome event with Karolina Muchova moving up one place, returning to the top 10 for the first time since January 2024.

WTA Top 10 in Live Rankings

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 9,960
2. Elena Rybakina – 8,705
3. Iga Swiatek – 7,273
4. Coco Gauff – 6,749/7,099
5. Jessica Pegula – 6,286
6. Amanda Anisimova – 5,958
7. Mirra Andreeva – 4,181
8. Elina Svitolina – 3,530 (+2)
9. Victoria Mboko – 3,531
10. Karolina Muchova – 3,328 (+1)

Other Winners

Sorana Cirstea is enjoying a fine final year on the WTA Tour as she won her fourth title, the Transylvania Open on home soil in February and then enjoyed a brilliant run to the semi-final, taking out top seed Sabalenka and 13th seed Linda Noskova.

Her campaign was ended by Coco Gauff, but she has climbed nine places in the Live Rankings to a new career-high of No 18 – three spots above her previous best of 21.

Anastasia Potapova surged 18 places to No 38 when the rankings were updated on 4 May and she will jump another 10 places to No 28 as she reached the third round after coming through qualifying. Jelena Ostapenko is one place below Potapova as she climbed seven places after making it to the quarter-finals.

Rising star Alex Eala won her first-ever match in the main draw at the Italian Open and she went on to reach the third round before losing against Rybakina. The Filipina’s reward is a four-place climb to No 38.

Former French Open champion Barbora Krejcikova is +9 to No 44 and Solana Sierra +8 to No 64, but the two biggest movers in the top 100 were Nikola Bartunkova with the Czech surging 29 places to No 65 while Taylor Townsend jumped 24 spots to No 72.

Former world No 1 Karolina Pliskova reached the fourth round and she is up 21 spots to No 109.

The Losers

Paolini was the defending champion, but her title defence ended in the third round and, as a result, she is down five places to No 13.

British No 1 was looking good for a French Open ranking at one point, but her late withdrawal from the Italian Open has given her hopes a near-fatal blow as she dropped seven places to No 37.

Zheng Qinwen reached the semi-final in Rome 12 months ago, but she lost in the third round this year and has slipped 21 places to No 53.

Veronika Kudermetova didn’t play at the WTA 1000 tournament and she has dropped 16 places to No 86, just one place ahead of Sofia Kenin, who has slumped 13 places.

But Peyton Stearns, a semi-finalist last year, is the biggest dropper as the American is -43 to No 92 after losing in the third round.