Iva Jovic made one of the clearest moves of the week on the WTA Tour, successfully retaining her Guadalajara Open title in Mexico while Emma Raducanu continued to fall in the rankings.

After the demanding US Open, most of the leading names stepped away from competition. Marta Kostyuk was the lone top-10 player in action, and the world No 10 reached the quarter-finals in Guadalajara before exiting. That result left her ranking unchanged. Elena Rybakina, meanwhile, begins a second week at No 1 on Monday after moving past Aryna Sabalenka following her US Open title run. Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva round out the top five.

The biggest shift inside the top 20 belongs to Jovic. The 18-year-old collected 451 points for her title run in Mexico and climbed three places to a career-best No 13. She is now within touching distance of Belinda Bencic in 12th, and her progress suggests the top 10 is close.

Jovic’s advance pushes Diana Shnaider, Victoria Mboko and Sorana Cirstea down one spot each, while Naomi Osaka, Alex Eala, Elise Mertens and Jasmine Paolini hold steady in the top 20.

Further back, the largest gains came from Guadalajara. Runner-up Peyton Stearns rose 24 places to No 36, which also puts her eight positions above her previous career high of No 28. Cristina Bucsa climbed nine spots to No 35 after reaching the semi-finals, while Ludmilla Samsonova moved up 12 places to No 38. Magdalena Fręch, another quarter-finalist, is up 12 to No 45, and Sloane Stephens jumped 34 places to No 135 after also making the last eight.

The SP Open final was pushed to Monday, with Kaitlin Quevedo and Nadia Podoroska set to meet for a maiden title. Quevedo is already up 14 spots to No 91, while Podoroska has surged 117 places to No 200.

Elsewhere, Paula Badosa is up 13 to No 56 after reaching the semi-finals in Brazil, and Anna Blinkova is up eight to No 86. Among the main fallers are Katerina Siniakova, Lilli Tagger, Emma Raducanu and Maya Joint.

WTA Top 20 remains led by Elena Rybakina, followed by Aryna Sabalenka, Jessica Pegula, Coco Gauff and Mirra Andreeva.

Frances Tiafoe delivered another memorable US Open campaign in 2026, reaching the semifinals at his home Grand Slam before falling to Ben Shelton.

The American has often produced some of his sharpest tennis in New York, and this year followed that familiar pattern. He worked through wins over Alex Michelsen, Daniil Medvedev and Valentin Vacherot to move into the last four, a result that lifted him to a career-high world No 8.

Yet the strong run also brought renewed attention to Tiafoe’s view on Grand Slam scoring. After his five-set victory over Michelsen, he made clear that he believes men should continue to play best-of-five at the majors.

“I think the men’s need to stick to three out of five. I don’t know where that conversation is going,” said Tiafoe in his post-match press conference.

He expanded on that point by referencing the tradition that has shaped the sport’s biggest events. “Everyone has their opinion but we have seen so many epics in five setters,” he added. Do I love five setters? Absolutely not. When I’m up two sets to love I would love to shake hands and go home.

“But it’s tennis, man. I grew up watching incredible tennis, incredible five setters. Novak vs Rafa, Federer vs Rafa. Incredible five setters which go on for hours and hours. That is the history of the game. I feel like your slam doesn’t mean as much personally if you get it done in two out of three format.”

John Lloyd was unimpressed by that stance and responded forcefully, calling the remarks “nonsense”. On the Inside-In Tennis Podcast, he argued that shortening Grand Slams would not weaken them and suggested the quality would improve, especially in the first week.

The issue has become even more visible in New York, where matches have stretched late into the night. Several evening sessions finished after midnight, and Ben Shelton’s match with Carlos Alcaraz did not end until after 3:30am.

Even so, there is no sign that Grand Slams are moving away from best-of-five for men’s tennis anytime soon, despite the growing debate.

Celebrations can sometimes arrive too early in sport, but Alexander Zverev experienced the opposite on Sunday.

The German finished off a four-set victory over Ben Shelton to claim his first US Open title, yet for a brief moment in Arthur Ashe Stadium he appeared unaware that the match, and the tournament, was already his. Zverev turned away and seemed to be preparing for the next point before the announcement of the score and the reaction of the crowd finally made the outcome clear.

It was an unusual finish to a major final, and one that caught the attention of Andy Roddick. At first, the American wondered whether Zverev had simply been borrowing from Elena Rybakina’s understated style of celebration. Roddick then made clear that the German had not been acting at all, but had genuinely not realised he had won.

On the latest episode of Served, Roddick said, “He did something that I am pretty sure no one has ever done. Won a Slam without knowing he won a Slam.

“Is he going full Rybakina? He comes on the [ESPN] desk and says, ‘I thought it was 5-1’. He goes, ‘My team yelled at me, I looked up’. Are you the first person who just looked up and realised you won a Slam? That was insane.”

Roddick compared the moment to Roger Federer’s similar mix-up against Kei Nishikori in 2014. In that case, Federer had completed a two-set win in the semi-finals of a German event, but briefly failed to recognise that the match was over. After Nishikori missed a backhand, Federer celebrated, returned to the baseline, then realised his error, laughed, and embraced his opponent at the net.

Federer’s career haul of 20 majors remains far above Zverev’s two, but on this particular measure, the German has the edge.