by Claudio Girardelli, translated by Kingsley Elliot Kaye
Last week the two tournaments where players could battle were the Credit One Charleston Open (WTA 500) and Colsanitas presentado por Zurich in Bogota (wta 250).
In 2021 Charleston was won by Veronika Kudermetova and Bogota by Camila Osorio. The runner-ups were Danka Kovinic and Harmony Tan respectively. Neither defending champion managed to repeat success. Veronika Kudermetova withdrew at the last moment due to illness and unfortunately dropped 415 points. That’s a pity, as she had been getting closer and closer, week after week, to the top 20. Camila Osorio was surprisingly ousted in the semifinals by local hero Laura Pigossi, who, after qualifying, had already knocked out the 2021 runner up Harmony Tan in the first round. The title was won by another qualifier, former No. 46, Tatjana Maria. 2000 miles northward, on the green clay of Charleston, Belinda Bencic captured her sixth title, returning to victory after her gold medal in Tokyo 2020. She beat Ons Jabeur in an entertaining match. The Tunisian, though disappointed with missing her chance to obtain a second career title, consolidated her top10 standing.
| WTA Rank | +/- | Player | Tournaments Played | Points |
| 1 | 0 | Iga Swiatek | 16 | 6711 |
| 2 | 0 | Barbora Krejcikova | 25 | 4975 |
| 3 | 0 | Paula Badosa | 29 | 4885 |
| 4 | +1 | Aryna Sabalenka | 20 | 4711 |
| 5 | -1 | Maria Sakkari | 18 | 4705 |
| 6 | 0 | Anett Kontaveit | 21 | 4511 |
| 7 | 0 | Karolina Pliskova | 16 | 4252 |
| 8 | 0 | Danielle Collins | 17 | 3151 |
| 9 | +1 | Ons Jabeur | 19 | 3095 |
| 10 | -1 | Garbiñe Muguruza | 18 | 3070 |
| 11 | 0 | Jelena Ostapenko | 20 | 2805 |
| 12 | 0 | Emma Raducanu | 20 | 2698 |
| 13 | +8 | Belinda Bencic | 20 | 2561 |
| 14 | -1 | Jessica Pegula | 20 | 2510 |
| 15 | -1 | Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova | 12 | 2473 |
| 16 | -1 | Coco Gauff | 20 | 2300 |
| 17 | -1 | Angelique Kerber | 15 | 2297 |
| 18 | -1 | Victoria Azarenka | 16 | 2281 |
| 19 | -1 | Elena Rybakina | 23 | 2261 |
| 20 | 0 | Simona Halep | 18 | 2156 |
| 21 | -2 | Leylah Fernandez | 25 | 2151 |
| 22 | +2 | Madison Keys | 19 | 1958 |
| 23 | +2 | Elise Mertens | 21 | 1840 |
| 24 | +2 | Sorana Cirstea | 23 | 1840 |
| 25 | +2 | Elina Svitolina | 22 | 1836 |
| 26 | +2 | Daria Kasatkina | 22 | 1770 |
| 27 | -4 | Tamara Zidansek | 20 | 1756 |
| 28 | +1 | Petra Kvitova | 21 | 1690 |
| 29 | -7 | Veronika Kudermetova | 22 | 1675 |
| 30 | 0 | Camila Giorgi | 19 | 1603 |
| 31 | 0 | Liudmila Samsonova | 27 | 1532 |
| 32 | 0 | Marketa Vondrousova | 20 | 1457 |
| 33 | +14 | Amanda Anisimova | 20 | 1320 |
| 34 | 0 | Alizé Cornet | 26 | 1315 |
| 35 | 0 | Naomi Osaka | 11 | 1296 |
| 36 | +6 | Anhelina Kalinina | 39 | 1278 |
| 37 | 0 | Jil Teichmann | 22 | 1269 |
| 38 | 0 | Clara Tauson | 30 | 1249 |
| 39 | +1 | Viktorija Golubic | 28 | 1211 |
| 40 | +14 | Ekaterina Alexandrova | 22 | 1211 |
| 41 | 0 | Shuai Zhang | 36 | 1210 |
| 42 | -3 | Ajla Tomljanovic | 23 | 1206 |
| 43 | 0 | Alison Riske | 25 | 1201 |
| 44 | -8 | Sloane Stephens | 16 | 1183 |
| 45 | 0 | Katerina Siniakova | 21 | 1166 |
| 46 | -2 | Shelby Rogers | 28 | 1164 |
| 47 | -14 | Camila Osorio | 31 | 1164 |
| 48 | 0 | Jasmine Paolini | 31 | 1159 |
| 49 | 0 | Sara Sorribes Tormo | 22 | 1135 |
| 50 | 0 | Tereza Martincova | 30 | 1128 |
In the top50 we can notice that:
- in the top10, Aryna Sabalenka gains one position and overtakes Maria Sakkari. As she had no points to drop, in spite of losing in the third round to Anisimova in Charleston, where she was the top seed, the 55 points she earned allowed her to reclaim No.4 . Ons Jabeur, thanks to her final, overtakes Muguruza and moves up to No.9.
- Belinda Bencic (+8, No.13) storms back into the top20. Leylah Fernandez (-2, No.21) drops out: although she was due to drop only 30 points, she needed to reach the second round at Charleston to remain ahead of Simona Halep (No.20).
- Having a glance at the top50 Veronika Kudermetova (-7, No.29) and Camila Osorio (-14, No.47) plummet. Also Sloane Stephens (-8, No.44) and Yulia Putintseva (-6, No.52) lost ground. Amanda Anisimova (+14, No.33) and Ekaterina Alexandrova (+14, No.40) are on the rise, just like Anhelina Kalinina (+6, No.36), who ups her career best.
Below the top50, Magda Linette (+6, n.58), Dayana Yastremska (+9, No.93) and Kamilla Rakhimova (+15, No.96) move up nicely. Danka Kovinic (-33, No.98) and Harmony Tan (-17, No.107) see their ranking slump.
Beyond the top100, outstanding success for Tatjana Maria (+123, No.114), Laura Pigossi (+86, No.126) and Coco Vandeweghe (+40, n.128). Elina Avanesyan (+24, No.124) and Linda Fruhvirtova (+18, No.170) also gained positions.
NEXT GEN RANKING
In Next Gen Ranking, dedicated to the players born after 1st January 2002, the first 8 positions are unchanged. Elina Avanesyan and Olivia Gadecki swap 9th and 10th place.
| Position | +/- | Player | YOB | WTA Rank |
| 1 | 0 | Emma Raducanu | 2002 | 12 |
| 2 | 0 | Cori Gauff | 2004 | 16 |
| 3 | 0 | Leylah Fernandez | 2002 | 21 |
| 4 | 0 | Clara Tauson | 2002 | 38 |
| 5 | 0 | Marta Kostyuk | 2002 | 53 |
| 6 | 0 | Qinwen Zheng | 2002 | 71 |
| 7 | 0 | Diane Parry | 2002 | 99 |
| 8 | 0 | Daria Snigur | 2002 | 144 |
| 9 | +1 | Elina Avanesyan | 2002 | 146 |
| 10 | -1 | Olivia Gadecki | 2002 | 168 |
RACE
Belinda Bencic (+6, No.8) and Ons Jabeur (+11, No.14) are the achievers of the week. Petra Kvitova falls out of the top20 (-3, No.23).
| Position | +/- | Player | Tournaments Played | Points |
| 1 | 0 | Iga Swiatek | 6 | 3920 |
| 2 | 0 | Maria Sakkari | 6 | 1610 |
| 3 | +1 | Paula Badosa | 8 | 1522 |
| 4 | -1 | Danielle Collins | 4 | 1516 |
| 5 | 0 | Anett Kontaveit | 6 | 1385 |
| 6 | 0 | Madison Keys | 8 | 1372 |
| 7 | 0 | Jelena Ostapenko | 7 | 1156 |
| 8 | +6 | Belinda Bencic | 7 | 1141 |
| 9 | -1 | Simona Halep | 6 | 1096 |
| 10 | -1 | Jessica Pegula | 8 | 1047 |
| 11 | -1 | Veronika Kudermetova | 7 | 952 |
| 12 | -1 | Naomi Osaka | 4 | 925 |
| 13 | -1 | Barbora Krejcikova | 6 | 895 |
| 14 | +11 | Ons Jabeur | 7 | 825 |
| 15 | +1 | Amanda Anisimova | 7 | 811 |
| 16 | -3 | Elena Rybakina | 8 | 767 |
| 17 | +1 | Kaia Kanepi | 5 | 645 |
| 18 | -3 | Sorana Cirstea | 8 | 626 |
| 19 | -2 | Daria Kasatkina | 7 | 606 |
| 20 | -1 | Elise Mertens | 7 | 576 |
