Azarenka, Sharapova rise in the rankings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., April 4 (UPI) -- Miami finalists Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova advanced in the world women's tennis rankings, updated Monday.

Azarenka defeated Sharapova 6-1, 6-4 in Saturday's final of the Sony Ericsson Open and jumped from eighth to sixth in the rankings. That matches her career best ranking.

Sharapova worked her way into the Top 10 at No. 9, up from 13th in the previous rankings. Her ranking had fallen after Sharapova, who was No. 1 in June 2008, suffered a shoulder injury.

Serena Williams, who hasn't played in a tournament since injuring her foot after winning at Wimbledon last year, is up from 12th to 10th in the rankings. Part of the reason for that is that Venus Williams, also hampered by injury, was unable to play at Miami, a tournament she won last year. Venus Williams dropped from ninth to 15th in the rankings.

Caroline Wozniacki (9,740 rankings points) is No. 1. She has been on top of the rankings for a total of 25 weeks and next week will tie Dinara Safina for the 10th most weeks at No. 1.

Kim Clijsters (8,145 points) is second and Vera Zvonareva (7,815) remains third while Francesca Schiavone (5,171) is fourth and Samantha Stosur (4,606) is fifth.

Azarenka has 4,470 points, which pushes Li Na (4,300) down one place to seventh and Jelena Jankovic (4,155) to eighth. Sharapova's 3,726 points place her in ninth and Serena Williams has 3,035 points.