WTA Race Update: Mboko climbs to third, Rybakina remains untouchable as Gauff falls out of top-10

Ending the first WTA 1000 of the season at the Qatar Open, the 2026 WTA Race was updated with several interesting movements – although Elena Rybakina and Aryna Sabalenka still hold a wide advantage over their pursuers. The Australian Open champion reaches 2,443 points despite her quarterfinal exit in Doha, while Sabalenka was affected by her absence in the Middle East, and sees Rybakina continuing to pull away in the Race.

The big winners of the week were Karolina Muchova and Victoria Mboko, protagonists of the final in Qatar. The Czech won in three sets to claim her first WTA 1000 title and only her second career title, which allows her to position herself at No. 4 in the Race.

She finished just a few points from the podium, with Mboko in third place after reaching her second final of the season – in addition to a good campaign up to the fourth round in Melbourne. Although both later decided to withdraw from the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, they hold a comfortable position and will hardly leave the top-5 even while out of competition this week.

And the Qatar Open generated several important movements in the upper zone, after a week marked by surprises. By the quarterfinals, only three of the top-10 seeds remained – with the main favorites Iga Swiatek and Rybakina eliminated in that round – while the majority of the top-10 were eliminated in the first two rounds.

Pegula and Jovic maintain top positions

Several of the names previously established in the top-10 remain in the upper zone. Elina Svitolina takes the No. 5 position, mainly thanks to her campaign to the semifinals of the Australian Open and her title at the ASB Classic at the start of the year. Being one of the best at the start of the season, the Ukrainian did not suffer too much in points due to her third-round elimination in Qatar, and from early in the year she appears as a candidate to return to the WTA Finals – this time in Riyadh – a tournament she participated in three times (2017-2019), winning in 2018.

Jessica Pegula, also a semifinalist in Melbourne, chose not to compete this week in Doha, skipping the tournament, but the irregular results of the top-names worked in Pegula’s favor, keeping her in 6th spot of the Race. Similarly, teenager Iva Jovic, another player who skipped Doha, remains momentarily in 8th spot and would temporarily be one of the qualifiers for the WTA Finals.

Hypothetically, another teenager could join. Mirra Andreeva, champion in Adelaide defeating Mboko. This time her path ended quickly in Qatar when facing the Canadian again, and this time Mboko took revenge, reaching the 5th seed early in the tournament. The Russian nevertheless continues in the top-8, in a year when she hopes to achieve her long-awaited debut in the WTA Finals – from which she was narrowly excluded in 2025.

Swiatek and Bencic close top-10

Several top-names fell following the irregular results in Dubai. Swiatek – who was the first seed – was eliminated in the quarterfinals and dropped to No. 9 in the Race. Her absence this week in Dubai could complicate things for the Pole, who could easily leave the top-10 of the Race in the coming days considering she will not compete until Indian Wells.

Closing the top-10 is the Swiss Belinda Bencic, who had to withdraw from Qatar due to injury, and she is closely followed by Coco Gauff (No. 11), who was surprised last week by a first-round loss to lucky loser Elisabetta Cocciaretto – later a quarterfinalist in the tournament.

Cocciaretto and Sakkari rises to top-20

Several names made important ascents this week. Previously, Cocciaretto – who won the Hobart Open title at the start of the season – is one of the names drawing the most attention in the upper zone of the Race, considering her best historical ranking is barely within the top-40. The Italian has been consistent at the start of the year and will be a force to consider in the coming weeks.

Also joining is 20-year-old Czech Sara Bejlek, champion of the WTA 500 Abu Dhabi Open two weeks ago, who positions herself at No. 12. Within the top-20 are names like Amanda Anisimova (No. 13), Elise Mertens (No. 15), Anna Kalinskaya (No. 18), and Maria Sakkari (No. 20) – recent semifinalists in Doha.

WTA Race Update

StandNamePoints1Elena Rybakina24432Aryna Sabalenka18003Victoria Mboko14974Karolína Muchová14355Elina Svitolina12706Jessica Pegula10957Mirra Andreeva10888Iva Jovic8119Iga Świątek79510Belinda Bencic74411Coco Gauff71012Sára Bejlek63013Amanda Anisimova62014Elisabetta Cocciaretto60315Sorana Cîrstea57916Elise Mertens57517Janice Tjen56718Anna Kalinskaya55619Xinyu Wang55220Maria Sakkari55121Jeļena Ostapenko53222Kimberly Birrell51523Diana Shnaider46024Clara Tauson45725Madison Keys45626Yulia Putintseva42427Magda Linette42328Ekaterina Alexandrova41629Alexandra Eala37630Hailey Baptiste34731Marta Kostyuk33532Linda Nosková32033Varvara Gracheva31734Tereza Valentová31335Emma Raducanu30836Jaqueline Cristian30437Maddison Inglis29838Katie Boulter29139Alycia Parks28840Anna Blinkova26341Daria Kasatkina25742Peyton Stearns25643Karolína Plíšková25144Emma Navarro25045Sonay Kartal24746Tamara Korpatsch24747Ludmilla Samsonova24748Leylah Fernandez24549Maya Joint23850Magdalena Fręch23751Zeynep Sönmez23452Ann Li23253Antonia Ružić23254Anastasia Potapova23155Aliaksandra Sasnovich23156Cristina Bucșa22657Nikola Bartůňková22558Kateřina Siniaková21859Elena-Gabriela Ruse21160Anna Bondár21161Mccartney Kessler21162Dayana Yastremska20663Lilli Tagger20564Ella Seidel19865Paula Badosa19766Marie Bouzková19567Storm Hunter19468Linda Fruhvirtová19469Ajla Tomljanović19270Anastasia Zakharova18671Jasmine Paolini18272Taylah Preston18173Oksana Selekhmeteva17474Barbora Krejčíková16675Zhuoxuan Bai16476Camila Osorio16377Naomi Osaka16278Katie Volynets15979Olga Danilović15480Daria Snigur14681Caty McNally14382Viktorija Golubic13983Lanlana Tararudee13884Moyuka Uchijima13385Diane Parry13086Rebecca Šramková12787Qinwen Zheng12088Dominika Šálková11989Petra Marčinko11490Maja Chwalińska11491Himeno Sakatsume11292Linda Klimovičová11193Vera Zvonareva11194Simona Waltert10995Oleksandra Oliynykova10896Renata Zarazúa10497Shuai Zhang10298Joanna Garland10099Yue Yuan95100Solana Sierra94

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