File photo of Jil Teichmann
World No.1 tennis player Ashleigh Barty cemented her place at the top of the WTA rankings, while Swiss player Jil Teichmann, who lost to the Australian world No. 1 in the Western & Southern Open final in Cincinnati on Sunday, made a massive leap of 32 ranking spots -- from world No. 76 to 44 -- following her giant-killing spree in the WTA 1000 event.
Teichmann had stunned world No.2 Naomi Osaka in the round of 16 for her biggest career win by ranking. She then notched a quarterfinal victory over 12th-ranked Belinda Bencic, her countrywoman and the reigning Olympic champion, and then dispatched No. 5 seed Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic in the semifinal in Cincinnati -- a WTA 1000 tournament -- to set up a title clash with Barty.
Meanwhile, Barty's reign atop the WTA rankings continues. She enters her 83rd consecutive week and 90th overall atop the rankings, the ninth most all time. Barty will need to protect her No.1 ranking for another eight weeks to equal American Lindsay Davenport's 98 weeks at No.1 in order to move into eighth place.
By winning the title in Cincinnati, Barty added 900 ranking points and extended her lead at the top to 3,175 points ahead of world No.2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who this week moved up to her career high No. 2.
Within the top-10, two players have inched up one place to new career-highs. Sabalenka made her debut at No.2, with Osaka falling to No.3. Cincinnati quarterfinalist Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic, who is also the French Open singles and doubles champion this year, has risen to No.9, pushing Garbine Muguruza of Spain down to No.10.
Germany's Angelique Kerber returns to the top-20 this week for the first time since February after reaching the semifinals in Cincinnati. The 33-year-old moves from No.22 to No.17.
A quarterfinalist in Cincinnati, Spain's Paula Badosa continues her climb up the rankings as she moved up three spots from No.29 to a career-best No.26.
