New York: The WTA Monday announced that Aryna Sabalenka will become the new women’s singles World No.1 when the rankings are released September 11 following the completion of the US Open.
The 25-year-old will be the 29th woman to capture the WTA World No.1 ranking, and just the eighth player to have held both the singles and doubles No.1 spots during their career, having also ascended to the top of the doubles rankings in February 2021.
“Reaching the WTA World No.1 singles ranking is something I have dreamed of ever since I was a little girl when I started playing tennis,” Sabalenka was quoted by WTA website.
“2023 has been such an incredible year for me and my team and this is the perfect reward for all our hard work. It’s an unbelievable feeling to join the amazing list of other WTA players to achieve this and it’s a huge honor to be able to call myself the No.1 singles player in the world,” she said.
The Belarusian, who confirmed her ascent to the No.1 ranking following Iga Swiatek’s loss to Jelena Ostapenko earlier today in New York, overtakes the Pole which brings an end to her consecutive 75-week stint in the No.1 spot.
Sabalenka has enjoyed an excellent season on the WTA Tour having won three titles, most recently at the WTA 1000 level Mutua Madrid Open, in addition to the WTA 500 Adelaide International and her debut Grand Slam singles title at the Australian Open.
She has reached a further two finals this year, at the WTA 1000 Indian Wells and WTA 500 Tennis Grand Prix (Stuttgart), and made the semifinals at both Roland-Garros and Wimbledon.
Sabalenka first rose to prominence in 2018 when she reached four finals across three different surfaces and has gone on to reach 23 Tour-level singles finals in her career with 13 titles to her name.
IANS