As always after a Grand Slam, the Australian Open 2026 has brought about notable shifts in the rankings. Among the notable movers are emerging American talent Iva Jovicmoved up seven places to a career-best No. 20, and former World No. 3 Elina Svitolinawhich will return to the Top 10 for the first time since returning to the tour as a mother in 2023.
The 18 year old Jovic reached her first Grand Slam quarter-final in Melbournealong the way she claimed her first Top 10 win over Jasmine Paolini before falling to two-time Aussie Open champion and eventual runner-up Aryna Sabalenka. With her breakthrough, the young American rises to the Top 20 and becomes the sixth player from the United States currently in the elite group, joining Amanda Anisimova, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Madison Keys and Emma Navarro.
As for Keysthe defending champion exited the fourth round, dropping six places in the rankings to number 15.
Svitolina has a 10-1 win-loss record so far in the 2026 season, having opened the year by capturing the title in Auckland before extending her run with a semi-final appearance at the Australian Open. Based on these results, the Ukrainian – who ranked No. 3 in his career in 2017 –returns to the Top 10 for the first time since returning to the WTA Tour as a mother.
It is notable that Svitolina is now one of two mothers in the current WTA Top 10 Belinda Bencicwho broke back into the elite just a week before the Australian Open. With Bencic at number 9 and Svitolina at number 10, this is a sign the first time in the history of the WTA rankings that two mothers have been ranked in the Top 10 at the same time.
Newly crowned Australian Open champion Elena Rybakina returns to her career-high ranking of No. 3, while Aryna Sabalenka remains number 1.
Turkey’s Zeynep Sonmez is the biggest positive riser in the Top 100 and has risen 33 places compared to number 79. The steepest drop is for Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who drops 53 places to number 100 after a first-round exit at the Australian Open, a stark contrast to her quarter-final performance at the tournament a year earlier. Moreover, Paula Badosa drops 39 places to number 65, while Donna Vekic drops 23 places to number 95.
The latest rankings also include a wave of career milestones. In addition to the aforementioned Jovic, there are players who achieve new personal records Linda Noskova (no. 12), Victoria Mboko (no. 13), Maya Joint (no. 29), Lois Drink (no. 34), Tereza Valentinova (no. 44), Alexandra Eala (no. 45), Janice Verdien (no. 47, the first Indonesian woman to be in the Top 50 this century), Elsa Jacquemot (no. 53), Francesca Jones (no. 66), Petra Marcinko (no. 69) and Oksana Selekhmeteva (no. 76).
#Iva #Jovic #breaks #Top #Elina #Svitolina #returns #Top #Tennis #blog #women