In the latest Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan has retained the top spot. Russian Mirra Andreeva has significantly closed the gap on second-placed Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
Andreeva and Sabalenka did not play last week as they prepared for the year-end Finals in Indian Wells (November 8–15). Rybakina, after reaching the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open 2026 and securing the year-end No. 1 ranking, withdrew from her semifinal match against Canada's Leylah Fernandez (23).
The WTA 500 tournament in Tokyo was eventually won by Russia's Diana Shnaider (11), who defeated Fernandez in the final 6-4, 5-7, 6-2.
At the parallel WTA 250 event in Guangzhou, Harriet Dart (83) of Great Britain took the title, winning the decisive match against Austria's Lilli Tagger (53) 4-6, 6-3, 6-4.
In the doubles final, Uzbekistan's Polina Kudermetova and Maria Timofeeva achieved what our Zhibek Kulambayeva and Dutch partner Isabelle Haverlag failed to do in the semifinals. Namely, they defeated the Chinese Taipei duo of I-Hsuan Cho/Yi-Chen Cho 7-5, 7-6 (7-1).
Earlier in the semifinals, the former Russians knocked out the legendary Venus Williams and Indonesia's Janice Tjen 4-6, 7-6 (10-8), 6-10.
Kulambayeva traveled from Guangzhou, China, to Chennai, India. There, over the weekend, she brilliantly won the singles qualifying. The 26-year-old Kazakh first left no chance to Ukraine's Elizaveta Kotliar (353) – 6-2, 6-3. Then she overcame Japan's Mei Yamaguchi (257) – 3-6, 6-3, 7-6 (7-4).
Interestingly, the Japanese player, having received lucky loser status, will also play in the main draw of the Chennai Open. Moreover, the draw again pitted her against Kulambayeva. The rematch will take place today.
Kulambayeva is also entered in the doubles in Chennai. Her new partner will be Australia's Gabriella Da Silva Fick (153). Their first opponents will be Japan's Hiroko Kuwata (161) and India's Ankita Raina (154).
The professional women's hard-court tournament Chennai Open, formerly known as the Indian Open, has been held since 2003. In various cities across India and with varying status.
In 2008 it was won by the aforementioned Venus Williams. A year earlier the trophy went to future Kazakh Yaroslava Shvedova, then still playing under the Russian flag. Besides Williams and Shvedova, winners here include Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, Australia's Nicole Pratt, Czech Linda Fruhvirtova and others.
After the restructuring of the WTA Tour, the tournament was not held from 2009 to 2022. The current WTA 250 event with a prize fund of $283.3 thousand is the last in Chennai. The competition has been given to the Philippines.
Defending Chennai Open champion Janice Tjen (38) will play in two events. But this time without Williams.