WTA rankings: Sherif's Iasi title lifts her 24 places to No. 73

Twenty-four. That is how many places Mayar Sherif climbed in this week's WTA rankings, from 97 to 73. The 30-year-old won the title in Iasi, a tour-level event, beating Paula Badosa in the final, and it is the biggest jump on this week's list, in a week when the very top of the WTA rankings did not move at all.

Mayar Sherif's week in Iasi ended with Paula Badosa retiring in the final, and the title, a tour-level one, sends Sherif from No. 97 to No. 73 in a single week. At 30, this is not a career best for her; her highest ranking remains No. 31, reached in 2023. It is instead a return toward ground she has held before, earned at the level that counts most on the ranking sheet.

The rest of the week's movement was busy underneath the top spots. Barbora Krejcikova won the other tour-level title of the week, in Athens, beating Maria Sakkari in the final, and climbed from No. 32 to No. 26. Paula Badosa, the beaten Iasi finalist and a former world No. 2, climbed back into the top 100 herself, from No. 115 to No. 93. Oleksandra Oliynykova entered the top 50, from No. 52 to No. 45, her best ranking. Two teenagers reached new career highs of their own: Alina Korneeva, 19, rose from No. 90 to No. 75 after reaching the Athens semi-final, and Lilli Tagger, 18, climbed from No. 84 to No. 74. Germany's presence in the top 100 slipped from five players to four, while Slovenia gained its first: Veronika Erjavec moved in from No. 105 to No. 100. Not every mover went up: Tereza Valentova, 19, dropped out of the top 50, from No. 49 to No. 63.

At the very top, nothing moved. All ten players in the top 10 held their positions this week, Aryna Sabalenka still No. 1 and Elena Rybakina still No. 2. Sabalenka's lead over Rybakina stands at 407 points, a gap that says, better than any single place could, how settled the top of the WTA rankings has become while the rest of the list churned beneath it.

Ranking tale, 20 July 2026, sources: WTA rankings, api-tennis