Big defenses ahead for No. 1 Wozniacki

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Sept. 26 (UPI) -- World No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki puts her Toray Pan Pacific Open title on the line this week, starting a period that could affect her rankings point total.

Wozniacki is in Tokyo for this week's WTA Pan Pacific event and next week she heads to Beijing and the China Open. She won both tournaments last year in a run that put her at No. 1 in the rankings for the first time so has 1,900 points to defend along with the titles.

Her closest competitors in the rankings aren't putting nearly that much on the line. No. 2 Maria Sharapova totaled 81 points and third-ranked Victoria Azarenka 400 in those tournaments last year.

Still, it's very unlikely Wozniacki's run at No. 1 -- the last 33 weeks and 51 weeks total -- will end even though the point advantage may slip.

Wozniacki has 9,335 points in the rankings with Sharapova second at 6,226 and Azarenka at No. 3 with 6,055. Vera Zvonareva sits in fourth place with 5,920 with Li Na (5,870) in fifth.

Petra Kvitova (5,530) is ranked sixth and Samantha Stosur (5,380) remains seventh ahead of, in order, Francesca Schiavone (4,775), Kim Clijsters (4,501) and Marion Bartoli (4,225).

Seven Top 10 players -- all but Li, Schiavone and Clijsters -- are in the field in Tokyo this week.

Last week's WTA winners included Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, whose Hansol Korea Open title was the fourth of her career. She goes from 26th to 32nd in the rankings. Chanelle Scheepers picked up her first WTA championship Saturday in Guangzhou, China, and jumps to a career-best No. 41 in the rankings. She was 73rd heading into the tournament.