Aryna Sabalenka has held onto the No 1 position in the WTA Rankings, but the latest update has tightened the race behind her after major moves from Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Alex Eala, while Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini both slipped.

Sabalenka has been under sustained pressure since the French Open, with Elena Rybakina close enough to challenge since June. That threat remained alive in Cincinnati, where Sabalenka’s fourth-round exit meant a place in the final would have protected her No 1 ranking. Instead, the two-time Grand Slam winner reached the quarter-final before a leg injury forced her to retire against Swiatek.

As a result, Sabalenka will still lead the field into the US Open, though her cushion is down to 434 points. Rybakina still has a major opportunity ahead in New York, where the four-time Grand Slam winner is the defending champion and will drop 2,000 points.

The pressure on Rybakina has grown as well. Pegula sits 876 points behind in third after finishing runner-up in Cincinnati, while Gauff is another 561 points back after lifting the title in Ohio.

Further down the list, Wimbledon champion Linda Noskova climbs two places to a career-high No 6. Swiatek is the biggest faller inside the top 10, dropping three places to No 8 after defending points from Cincinnati but losing in the semi-final to Pegula.

There were also positive moves for Iva Jovic, Sorana Cirstea and Alex Eala, with Jovic and Eala both reaching career-best rankings. Paolini, unable to compete this year because of injury after finishing runner-up to Swiatek in 2025, falls five spots to No 20.

Sara Bejlek was one of the standout performers in Cincinnati, beating Sabalenka in the fourth round and Madison Keys in the quarter-final before losing to Gauff. The Czech youngster rises six places to a new high of No 29.

Elsewhere in the top 100, several players recorded new highs, while Katie Boulter’s rise and Emma Raducanu’s drop have left Boulter as British No 1.

Jannik Sinner’s decision to pull out of the US Open has been called a shock by former British player and commentator Annabel Croft, who said his scheduling may have “cost him” two Grand Slams this season.

Five weeks ago, the world No 1 finished his Wimbledon campaign in outstanding form and carried a 44-3 record for the season, a return that underlined how dominant he had been. But concern had already started to build after he withdrew from the Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati.

With less than two weeks left before the US Open began, Sinner announced on social media that he would not be able to compete because of an ongoing “right knee issue”. The withdrawal followed another difficult major moment earlier in the year. After becoming the first man to win all five of the season’s opening Masters 1000 events, he also entered the French Open as the clear favourite, only to be physically weakened by the intense Paris heat in his second-round match against Juan Manuel Cerundolo.

Croft, a former top-25 player who has spent years working as a commentator, offered a blunt assessment of the situation.

“It’s quite a shock to be honest. We knew he hadn’t played the last couple of events and he was resting but that whole idea was to get ready for the US Open,” stated the Brit during a Sky Sports segment.

“It’s a big blow to tennis because it feels like a long time ago that we had Alcaraz and Sinner in the events together and it feels like a great loss.

“It also underlines how relentless and demanding the tour is physically.

“When you think at the beginning of the year when he won those five back-to-back Masters 1000 titles which was absolutely exceptional and a phenomenal achievement, but when he got to Roland-Garros there was not much left in the tank and it cost him perhaps the French Open title..

“Then we saw him rebound at Wimbledon which he built with each match but once again his body has let himself down.

“For all of these players it’s such a difficult balance. You keep trying to play the tour, play the mandatory events but you also want to peak at the Grand Slams and it’s not quite happening at the moment.”

The withdrawal came one day after Carlos Alcaraz confirmed his own return to the tour following a four-month break for the US Open. The Spaniard has been sidelined by a wrist injury since leaving the Barcelona Open, though recent practice sessions have offered encouragement. Sinner and Alcaraz met six times in 2025, but their only meeting this year came in the final of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, where Sinner won in straight sets.

“It’s a long time since we had them in the same draw [since Monte Carlo],” the Brit continued.

“They have become the new rivalry that everyone wants to see. I really don’t mind watching the same players compete all the time because those are the matches you really look forward to.

“It’s like watching a big boxing fight. You want to see the very best go up against each other, but now it’s an opportunity for the next category down to shine.

“It’s interesting because it’s a bit of a transitional period at the moment.

“Who knows what will happen when we get them all back together.”

Coco Gauff has not lifted a title in 2026, but her season has been built on consistency at the top level. The American has reached two Masters finals this year, in Rome and Miami, while also advancing to at least the quarter-finals at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.

Her progress continued at the Canadian Open, where she opened her North American hardcourt swing by making the semi-finals before falling to Elena Rybakina. Those results have pushed her to world number four in the WTA Tour rankings, yet one significant objective remains unmet.

Speaking at her Cincinnati Open press conference, Gauff made clear that she wants to finish the season with silverware. Ahead of her first match in Cincinnati against Liudmila Samsonova, she said: “I feel like I’m getting closer and closer to where I want to end up as a player,” said Gauff ahead of her first match in Cincinnati against Liudmila Samsonova.

“Obviously, like you said, in Wimbledon and in Toronto, I had some good results and, you know, I think just trying to compete to be able to finish with a trophy in my hand is something that I am hoping to get before the season’s over.

“I’ve gotten a lot of semis, a couple finals, a lot of quarterfinals, so just trying to get to that final step.”

Gauff has already enjoyed success at the Cincinnati event, having won the tournament in 2023. On that occasion she beat Linda Noskova, Jasmine Paolini, Iga Swiatek, and Karolina Muchova to claim the title for the first and only time in her career.

Her overall record in the event has been less convincing. She has exited in the first round twice and the second round twice, while last year she reached the quarter-finals before losing in three sets to eventual finalist Paolini. Across six appearances, Gauff has won nine matches and lost five, leaving her with a 64% winning rate at the Masters tournament.

The two-time Grand Slam champion will now try to change that pattern as she searches for her first WTA Tour title of the year at the 14th time of asking in 2026.