WTA No. 1 ranking update: It's down to Petra Kvitova and Naomi Osaka

Thursday, January 24

When the Australian Open began there were 11 women with a chance at leaving the tournament as the No. 1 player in the world. Now, on the eve of the women’s final, we’re down to just two—the two finalists.

Naomi Osaka and Petra Kvitova won’t just be squaring off for the Australian Open title on Saturday, they’ll also be battling it out for No. 1, the champion set to replace Simona Halep at the top spot.

Osaka, who won her first Grand Slam title at the US Open last summer, shared her thoughts on the No. 1 ranking after a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 semifinal victory against Karolina Pliskova.

“Yeah, I mean, of course that’s a very big deal for me,” said the world No. 4. “It’s one of the biggest goals that I had, I guess, playing the quarterfinals, and then hearing that it’s possible. For me, though, my main goal is winning this tournament, and I think the ranking comes after that.

“I tend to do better if I focus on one goal.”

The No. 6-ranked Kvitova, who has been as high as No. 2 on the WTA rankings, rallied from a break down in the opening set to beat American Danielle Collins in her semifinal match, 7-6 (2), 6-0.

She’s now through to her first Grand Slam final since winning her second Wimbledon title in 2014.

“Yeah, it’s been a while. It’s been five years,” she said in her post-match press conference (watch above). “You know, that’s why I worked pretty hard to be back there. To be honest, I don’t think very many people believed I could do this again, to stand on the court and play on this level. It was really just a few of them, I think. And I’m very happy to have those few around me, which is the best thing, I think.

“It feels great—hopefully it also feels great for everybody who was there when I needed them.”

For both players, reaching No. 1 would be historic. No Asian tennis player, male or female, has ever reached No. 1—the closest was China’s Li Na, who went as high as No. 2.

And at age 28 and 10 months, Kvitova would become the oldest first-time No. 1 in WTA history.

For many reasons, both players are laser-focused on Saturday’s final, which will be their first encounter.

“This is a place that’s worth all the training,” Osaka said. “When you’re little, you watch the Grand Slams, you watch all the players play the legendary matches here. For me, this is the most important tournament—there’s only four of them a year, so of course I want to do the best that I can here.”

Wednesday, January 23

When the Australian Open began there were 11 women with a chance at leaving the tournament as the No. 1 player in the world. Now, on the eve of the women’s semifinals, we’re down to just three.

Naomi Osaka, Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova, who are joined by 35th-ranked Danielle Collins in the final four of the first Grand Slam of the year, can leave Melbourne as the WTA No. 1.

The first semifinal pits Kvitova against Collins, a rematch of their first-round meeting in Brisbane earlier this year that the current WTA No. 6 won, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (6), 6-3.

The second semifinal pits Osaka against Pliskova. They’ve played each other three times before, with Pliskova winning twice. This will be their first encounter at a Grand Slam tournament.

There is only one combination of results that would settle No. 1 on Thursday: if Collins beats Kvitova and Osaka beats Pliskova, Osaka will be No. 1, no matter who wins the final.

If any other combination of results happens in the semifinals, the No. 1 ranking will be settled in the final on Saturday. Osaka, Kvitova and Pliskova would all become No.1 by winning the title; if Collins were to win the title over Pliskova, then Osaka would become No. 1.

Osaka is the frontrunner in the race—she’s the only one of the three contenders who could lose in the semifinals and still become No. 1. That would happen if Kvitova also loses in the semifinals, and Pliskova then loses to Collins in the final.

But Osaka doesn’t want to stop in the semifinals.

“I already know that to be here is something that a lot of people want, and I know that a few months ago I would’ve given anything to be in the semifinals of a Slam,” the 2018 US Open champion said. “But it’s this weird feeling of wanting to do the next big thing. And especially now that I already won a Grand Slam, and I feel like I want to win another one and that I’m so close, I just want to keep going.

Needless to say, the players are still (mostly) focused on their next matches.

“I don’t want to say it means zero, but it doesn’t mean the same,” Pliskova said of the No. 1 ranking, which she already occupied for eight weeks in 2017. “Right now, in this situation, it would not mean the same as to win a Grand Slam. I’m not going to chase this, so for me, nothing is really changing.”

“I’m not really looking to the ranking,” said Kvitova, a former No. 2. “I’m in a Grand Slam. I don’t think there’s any room to think about it. Playing Danielle in the semifinal is all that matters right now.”

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