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Women's Power Rankings: Kuznetsova is No. 1

Published Jul. 9, 2009 5:56 p.m. ET

Zack Pierce

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Women's tennis power rankings
The start of the clay season has brought some big movement to the women's Power Rankings as Svetlana Kuznetsova edges out Dinara Safina for the top spot. How does it work? While the official WTA rankings take the entire previous year into account, our rankings deal only with the last four events in which each player has participated. This is designed to create a better estimate of who is hot now by putting the emphasis on recent action. Disagree with our rankings? Sound off in the comments section below. Enjoy! Rankings account for events completed prior to May 13. A "+N/A" mark in the +/- column means the player was not ranked in the previous rankings.
Rank	Player	+/-	WTA	Last four	Comment
1	Svetlana Kuznetsova	+9	7	Rome: F Stuttgart: W Miami: SF Indian Wells: R64	Stuttgart win and Rome runner-up showings prove she's ready for a big run at Roland Garros.
2	Dinara Safina	+7	1	Rome: W Stuttgart: F Miami R32 Indian Wells: QF	Almost a dead heat with Kuznetsova, but has a slight disadvantage in points over the same four events.
3	Victoria Azarenka	-2	9	Rome: SF Stuttgart: R16 Miami: W Indian Wells: SF	Can't keep her at No. 1 anymore with clay not treating her well. She lost early in Stuttgart and was flattened by Kuznetsova in Rome.
4	Venus Williams	—	3	Rome: SF Charleston: R16 Miami: SF Acapulco: W	We have to play by the rules and ignore her early loss Tuesday in Madrid. For now, she's here ... but it won't last.
5	Ana Ivanovic	+3	8	Rome: R16 Miami: R32 Indian Wells: F Dubai: QF	Moving up the list more due to others' troubles than her own successes, Ivanovic is back on the surface that yielded her only Slam win.
6	Serena Williams	-4	2	Rome: R32 Marbella: R32 Miami: F Dubai: SF	That leg injury in Rome raises some big red flags. Even if she is ready for the French, she hasn't yet won a match on clay this year.
7	Caroline Wozniacki	-1	11	Rome: R16 Stuttgart: R16 Charleston: F Ponte Vedra: W	Hasn't been able to back up her Charleston-Ponte Vedra success so far on the clay and was crushed by Azarenka in Rome.
8	Agnieszka Radwanska	+N/A	12	Rome: QF Stuttgart: QF Miami: R16 Indian Wells: QF	Quarterfinal runs in Stuttgart and Rome (where she beat Ivanovic) make her a sleeper to watch in the clay stretch.
9	Jelena Jankovic	-2	4	Rome: QF Stuttgart: QF Marbella: W Miami: R64	Also had quarterfinal efforts in Stuttgart and Rome, but the former No. 1 hasn't beaten a top-10 player all year.
10	Vera Zvonareva	-7	6	Charleston: R16 Miami: R32 Indian Wells: W Dubai: QF	We'll keep her here another week, but the torn ligaments in her ankle have kept her off the clay, and that Indian Wells win is carrying less weight now.
Outside looking in	The big question
Elena Dementieva Last four — Stuttgart: SF; Charleston: SF; Miami: R16; Indian Wells: R64 Decent showing in Stuttgart not enough to keep her in the rankings. Marion Bartoli Last four — Rome: R32; Stuttgart: QF; Charleston: SF; Ponte Vedra: R32 Beat Wozniacki in Stuttgart but no other wins to write home about in this stretch. Nadia Petrova Last four — Rome: R16; Stuttgart: R16; Charleston: R16; Ponte Vedra: SF Repeated Round of 16 runs aren't helping her back up her top-10 ranking.

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