Australia’s Ashleigh Barty finished the year atop the WTA singles rankings, marking the third straight season in which she has earned the year-end No. 1 ranking.
Barty is the fifth woman to finish No. 1 in three straight years, joining legends Chris Evert, Steffi Graf, Martina Navratilova and Serena Williams.
Barty went 42-8 in 2021 and won five titles, including the Wimbledon crown.
Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus finished second in the rankings and Garbine Muguruza of Spain was third. Muguruza won the year-ending WTA Finals on Wednesday.
Two Czech Republic players round out the top five: Karolina Pliskova was fourth and French Open champ Barbora Krejcikova was fifth.
Greece’s Maria Sakkari was sixth, Estonia’s Anett Kontaveit was seventh and Spain’s Paula Badosa finished eighth. Poland’s Iga Swiatek and Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur round out the top 10.
Williams, 40, endured an injury plagued season and completed the year at No. 41.
Romania’s Simona Halep also missed time with injures and finished 20th, ending a streak of seven straight top-10 finishes.
Two Americans finished in the top 20: Sofia Kenin at No. 12 and Jessica Pegula at No. 18. Coco Gauff (No. 22) was the third-highest American, followed by Jennifer Brady (25) and Danielle Collins (29).
Among other notables, Australian Open champ Naomi Osaka of Japan was 13th, Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic was 17th and U.S. Open champ Emma Raducanu of Great Britain was No. 19.
Olympic champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland was No. 23 and Canada’s Leylah Fernandez was No. 24.
Katerina Siniakova was the year-end No. 1 in doubles. The Czech teamed with Krejcikova to win the French Open and the WTA Finals. Krejcikova finished No. 2 in doubles.
–Field Level Media
