Venus Williams, shown during the 2012 U.S. Open, picked up a tournament title last week in Luxembourg that lifts her to No. 24 in the world women's tennis rankings. UPI Photo/Monika Graff |
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DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., Oct. 22 (UPI) -- Venus Williams and Caroline Wozniacki, both formerly No. 1 in women's tennis, picked up WTA titles, with the tour in its final weeks of the season.
Williams collected the 44th WTA title of her career -- but first in more than 2 1/2 years -- by taking the Luxembourg Open Sunday, losing just one set in the process. Williams was No. 1 most recently in July 2002. Her ranking has been affected by of a lack a play due to illness but the Luxembourg win boosted her to No. 24, up 17 spots.
Wozniacki's title in Moscow was her 20th WTA championship. She was on top of the rankings until late January but has dropped to No. 11. The Kremlin Cup victory didn't change her ranking.
There were small tweaks in the WTA rankings this week but Victoria Azarenka remains No. 1 with 10,190 points, Maria Sharapova is second at 9,115 followed by Serena Williams (7,900) and Agnieszka Radwanska (7,095).
Angelique Kerber moves from No. 6 to fifth with 5,470 points. She changed places with Petra Kvitova, the defending Tour Championship winner, who is ranked sixth with 5,215 points. Sara Errani (4,855) traded spots with Li Na (4,726) for the No. 7 ranking, leaving Li in eighth.
Samantha Stosur (4,120) is ninth and Marion Bartoli (3,740) is 10th, with 55 more points than Wozniacki.
The WTA Tour Championships are this week, with Azarenka, Serena Williams, Kerber and Li comprising the Red Group while the White Group features Sharapova, Radwanska, Kvitova and Errani.
The groups will go through round-robin play with the top two in each group advancing to the semifinals.
