WIMBLEDON women’s singles champion Simona Halep rose to fourth on the latest WTA rankings updated Monday, while 15-year-old American Coco Gauff made the most of her stunning Wimbledon performance to break into the top 150 for the first time in her career. Halep eased past 23-time Grand Slam singles winner Serena Williams 6-2, 6-2 in 56 minutes Saturday. After winning her second Grand Slam singles title, the Romanian rose from seventh to fourth. Despite falling in the Wimbledon final for the second straight year, Williams also rose one spot up to ninth. The top three remained unchanged, as Australia’s Ashleigh Barty sat atop the rankings with 6,605 points, followed by Naomi Osaka (6,257) and Karolina Pliskova (6,055). Gauff undoubtedly came into spotlight with her fairytale journey at Wimbledon. Kicking off from the qualifiers through a wildcard, Gauff shocked the tennis world by reaching the fourth round, including upsetting five-time winner Venus Williams. As the youngest player to qualify for Wimbledon in the Open Era, Gauff saw her rank soar from 313th to 141st. Wang Qiang remained the highest ranked Chinese player with her position at 14. After reaching the Wimbledon quarterfinals, Zhang Shuai climbed 15 places up to 35th. (Xinhua) |