Errani wins, stays eighth in rankings

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla., March 4 (UPI) -- Sara Errani repeated as champion in Acapulco, but it wasn't enough to get back the spot she lost in the women's tennis rankings last week.

Errani collected her seventh WTA title by winning her second championship Saturday in Acapulco. Five of those seven have come in the last year, starting with the 2012 event in Mexico.

A week ago Petra Kvitova passed Errani for No. 7 in the world rankings and they stay in the same order even after Errani's championship performance. They are separated by just 65 points in the rankings.

Monica Niculescu won the tournament in Brazil and Karolina Pliskova took the Malaysian Open, giving each their first WTA title. Niculescu goes from 75th to 58th in the rankings while Pliskova, who was 127th a week ago, reaches a career-high of 84th.

World No. 2 Victoria Azarenka will be looking to defend her title at the BNP Paribas Open, which begins this week in Indian Wells, Calif. It is a WTA Premier Mandatory event.

Serena Williams, with 10,365 points, has a 40-point lead over Azarenka for No. 1 in the rankings, with Maria Sharapova, the 2012 Indian Wells runner-up, ranked third with 9,715 points. Agnieszka Radwanska comes in fourth at 7,505.

Li Na is still fifth. She has 6,130 points and is followed by No. 6 Angelique Kerber with 5,400. Kvitova has 4,980 points, just ahead of Errani's 4,915. Samantha Stosur (3,835) and Caroline Wozniacki (3,570) fill out the Top 10.