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PARIS, Jan 29: Serena Williams reaped the benefits of her astounding run to the Australian Open title at the weekend when she rocketed up 67 spots in the WTA rankings to 14th on Monday.
Maria Sharapova drew some consolation from her Melbourne Park final defeat by Williams by replacing Justine Henin at the top of the rankings.
Belgian Henin skipped the season's opening Grand Slam event for ‘personal reasons’ following the break-up of her marriage.
Williams's ranking had nosedived over the past year after injury curtailed her schedule to just four tournaments in 2006 and she arrived in Melbourne ranked 81st.
After beating all the odds and six seeds, including Sharapova, to clinch her third Melbourne Park title, Williams reclaimed the accolade of being the top American woman.
Lindsay Davenport, who was still the top American two weeks ago despite effectively retiring from the sport after announcing her pregnancy, slipped to 35th on Monday.
Meanwhile, Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez has moved up to fifth in the ATP world rankings following his run into the Australian Open final.
The man who defeated him in straight sets it that match, Roger Federer, consolidated his position as world No 1.
Latest rankings (last week’s positions in parenthesis):
Men’s: 1. (1) Roger Federer (Switzerland) 8120 points; 2. (2) Rafael Nadal (Spain) 4775; 3. (3) Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) 2825; 4. (7) Andy Roddick (US) 2715; 5 (9) Fernando Gonzalez (Chile) 2710; 6. (5) James Blake (US) 2605; 7. (6) Tommy Robredo (Spain) 2555; 8. (4) Ivan Ljubicic (Croatia) 2325; 9. (12) Tommy Haas (Germany) 2155; 10. (10) Mario Ancic (Croatia) 2075; 11. (8) David Nalbandian (Argentina) 1995; 12. (13) Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic) 1785; 13. (15) Novak Djokovic (Serbia) 1675; 14. (16) Andy Murray (Britain) 1650; 15. (14) David Ferrer (Spain) 1610; 16. (17) Richard Gasquet (France) 1580; 17. (19) Lleyton Hewitt (Australia) 1335; 18. (20) Radek Stepanek (Czech Republic) 1325; 19. (18) Jarkko Nieminen (Finland) 1320; 20. (21) Dmitry Tursunov (Russia) 1230.
Women’s: 1. (2) Maria Sharapova (Russia) 3918; 2. (1) Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) 3311; 3. (3) Amelie Mauresmo (France) 2900; 4. (5) Kim Clijsters (Belgium) 2577; 5. (4) Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia) 2554; 6. (7) Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 2139; 7. (6) Nadia Petrova (Russia) 2057; 8. (8) Elena Dementieva (Russia) 2013; 9. (12) Nicole Vaidisova (Czech Republic) 1782; 10. (11) Jelena Jankovic (Serbia) 1558; 11. (9) Patty Schnyder (Switzerland) 1544; 12. (10) Dinara Safina (Russia) 1527; 13. (13) Anna Chakvetadze (Russia) 1470; 14. (81) Serena Williams (US) 1269; 15. (17) Shahar Peer (Israel) 1209; 16. (14) Ana Ivanovic (Serbia) 1160; 17. (16) Na Li (China) 1106; 18. (18) Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 988; 19. (23) Tatiana Golovin (France) 950; 20. (19) Anna-Lena Groenefeld (Germany) 944.—Agencies
