Magda Linette (45th WTA) presented herself excellently at this year’s Australian Open. The Polish woman achieved the greatest success in her career, advancing to the Grand Slam semi-final. On her way to the best “four” she defeated four seeded players, including one of the favorites, the French Caroline Garcia (4th WTA). In the fight for the final, unfortunately, she had to recognize the superiority of Aryna Sabalenka (5th WTA).
Magda Linette with a big promotion in the WTA ranking, has not been so high yet
The Polish woman had a great start to the semi-final with the Belarusian, breaking her rival in the opening game. Sabalenka quickly equalized, and in the later stages both players confidently kept their passes. This led to a tie-break that was a complete showdown for the world’s fifth racket. Linette managed to win only one point and the first set was won by her rival.
In the second set, Sabalenka shifted up a gear and took full control of the court. Linette fought bravely, but she couldn’t find a way to make her rival play great. The Belarusian broke the 30-year-old’s serve twice and jumped back to 5:1. Although Linette managed to save three match balls and keep the pass, the rival closed the meeting on her serve. The world’s fifth rocket won 7-6(7-1), 6-2 and advanced to her first Grand Slam final.
Linette, despite the defeat, can be fully satisfied with the performance on the courts in Melbourne. For the first time she crossed the border of the third round in a Grand Slam tournament and stopped only in the semi-finals. A great performance in the Australian Open will translate into a significant rise in the WTA ranking. Before the start of the competition, the Polish woman was ranked 45th, and in the latest ranking she will advance by 23 places. For a good performance on the courts in Melbourne, she gained 710 points and will be the 22nd racket of the world on Monday. So far, it occupied the highest position in February 2020, when it was ranked 33rd.
Directly ahead of her are Paula Bados and Anett Kontaveit, i.e. players who until recently were at the forefront of the WTA ranking.
The top “10” of the WTA virtual ranking currently:
- 1. Iga Świątek – 10,485 points
- 2. Aryna Sabalenka – 5400 pts
- 3. Ons Jabeur – 5,210 pts
- 4. Jessica Pegula – 5,000 pts
- 5. Caroline Garcia – 4645 pts
- 6. Coco Gauff – 3,992 pts
- 7. Maria Sakkari – 3,811 points
- 8. Daria Kasatkina – 3,380 points
- 9. Belinda Bencic – 2,905 pts
- 10. Elena Rybakina – 2,815 points
- …
- 22. Magda Linette – 1770 pts
In Saturday’s final, Sabalenka will face the Wimbledon champion from last season, Elena Rybakina (25th WTA). In the event of a victory, the Belarusian will be the vice-leader of the WTA ranking from Monday, and Rybakina has a chance to move to the 8th place.
Source: Sport
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