Iga Swiatek’s loss at Indian Wells has major consequences on WTA ranking .

Iga Swiatek’s loss at Indian Wells has major consequences on WTA ranking .

Iga Swiatek was hoping to achieve a more prestigious result at the ‘BNP Paribas Open’ in Indian Wells, a tournament that suits her game very well. The decision of the organizers to change surface after 25 years has made the courts slower even than in previous editions and the particularly high bounces had led some players to compare this surface to red clay.

By virtue of these assumptions, all the ingredients seemed to be in place for the Polish champion to be able to defend the title that she won in California last year. However, her run ended against Mirra Andreeva in the semifinals and the repercussions of this defeat on the WTA ranking are very evident.

The world number 2 – who hoped to stay hooked on Aryna Sabalenka to try to dethrone her in the near future – will lose 610 points due to this surprising elimination and her gap from the Belarusian could exceed 1500 points at the end of this tournament.

Aryna has occupied the top position in the WTA ranking for 29 weeks and looks set to retain her leadership until after Roland Garros, barring truly sensational results from Swiatek in the next two and a half months.