WTA rankings: Serena Williams secures No. 1 spot, qualifies for Finals

Serena Williams is on top of the WTA leaderboard on all fronts. She solidified her spot at No. 1 by winning her sixth U.S. Open and 18th major overall, and she

Courtney Nguyen | Sep 9, 2014

WTA rankings: Serena Williams secures No. 1 spot, qualifies for Finals /

Serena Williams is on top of the WTA leaderboard on all fronts. She solidified her spot at No. 1 by winning her sixth U.S. Open and 18th major overall, and she became the first player to qualify for this year's WTA Finals. Caroline Wozniacki is back in the top ten after making the U.S. Open final, rising two spots to No. 9. She also jumped six spots in the WTA's Road To Singapore ranking to No. 9, giving herself a chance to qualify for the WTA Finals (the top eight will qualify). Li Na, who began the year at No. 2, fell outside the top five for the first time in over a year.

Here's how the WTA's Top 10 looks as the tour moves to Asia:

Serena Williams
Simona Halep
Petra Kvitova
Maria Sharapova
Agnieszka Radwanska
Li Na
Eugenie Bouchard
Angelique Kerber
Caroline Wozniacki
Ana Ivanovic

With just six weeks remaining in the regular season, here are the players battling it out for a spot at the WTA Finals in Singapore:

Serena Williams (6931) - qualified
Maria Sharapova (5575)
Simona Halep (5189)
Agnieszka Radwanska (4318)
Petra Kvitova (4049)
Li Na (3970)
Eugenie Bouchard (3901)
Ana Ivanovic (3650)
Caroline Wozniacki (3491)
Angelique Kerber (3245)
Ekaterina Makarova (2900)
Dominika Cibulkova (2810)
Sara Errani (2795)
Jelena Jankovic (2765)

American watch

Seven American women remain in the top 50, with eleven in the top 100. No. 1 Serena Williams leads the pack, followed by No. 19 Venus Williams, No. 27 Sloane Stephens and No. 28 Madison Keys.

The rest of the top 100: No. 39 CoCo Vandeweghe, No. 43 Varvara Lepchenko (up nine spots), No. 50 Christina McHale, No. 51 Lauren Davis, No. 64 Alison Riske, No. 73 Vania King and No. 79 Shelby Rogers.

Other notable movers

Victoria Azarenka drops out of the top 20, falling seven spots to land at No. 24, her lowest ranking since May 2008. The former No. 1 has been hampered with injuries all season and was defending finalist points at the U.S. Open.
Ekaterina Makarova makes her top 15 debut at No. 15 after advancing to her first Slam semifinal.
Peng Shuai is up 18 spots after making her first Slam semifinal. She is on the verge of getting back in the top 20 at No. 21.
Belinda Bencic, 17, jumps 25 spots to a new career-high of No. 33. At this rate she'll be seeded at the Australian Open.
Camila Giorgi falls 11 spots to No. 42. Daniela Hantuchova drops 20 spots to No. 57.
Mirjana Lucic-Baroni jumped nearly 40 spots after advancing to the Round of 16 for the first time since 1999. She lands at No. 80 and will likely get direct entry into the Australian Open. No more qualifying.
Aleksandra Krunic, who wowed the crowd with wins over Madison Keys and Petra Kvitova before losing to Victoria Azarenka at the U.S. Open, makes her top 100 debut at No. 100. If she can stay right around that mark this fall she'll get direct entry into the Australian Open.

GALLERY: SERENA WILLIAMS DOMINATES U.S. OPEN WOMEN'S FINAL

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Published Sep 9, 2014

COURTNEY NGUYEN

Contributor, SI.com Nguyen is a freelance writer for SI.com, providing full coverage of professional tennis both on and off the court. Her content has become a must-read for fans and insiders to stay up-to-date with a sport that rarely rests. She has appeared on radio and TV talk shows all over the world and is one of the co-hosts of No Challenges Remaining, a weekly podcast available on iTunes. Nguyen graduated from the University of California, Irvine in 1999 and received a law degree from the University of California, Davis in 2002. She lives in the Bay Area.