A year ago at this time, Bianca Andreescu was ranked outside the WTA’s top 200 after losing in the first round of U.S. Open qualifying. Look at her now.
Thanks to winning her first Grand Slam title at Flushing Meadows, Andreescu jumped 10 spots to a career-high No. 5 in the rankings on Monday, while Ash Barty again replaced Naomi Osaka at No. 1.
Andreescu’s 6-3, 7-5 victory over Serena Williams in the final on Saturday continued the 19-year-old Canadian’s rapid rise from 178th at the end of last season.
She is the first woman in the Open era, which began in 1968, to win the U.S. Open in her main-draw debut at the tournament. This was only her fourth career appearance at any Slam.
“I don’t think I was ever as composed as I am now, or even a year ago. I would get really down on myself and I would get very negative thoughts going through my mind. I would smash rackets. I’d just yell at myself during matches. Actually not even during matches, even during practice, too,” Andreescu said.
“But I found that that way wasn’t working to my advantage at all. So I started … seeking some advice from other people,” she said. “Ever since then, I’ve been trying to have a very positive outlook on everything. I think that’s really been helping me, even in tough situations.”
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Williams, a 23-time Grand Slam champion, slid from No. 8 to No. 9 after losing in the U.S. Open final for the second consecutive year — and finishing as the runner-up for the fourth time in the past six majors.
Osaka, the 2018 champion in New York, and Barty both lost in the fourth round. That allowed Barty to move up from No. 2, and Osaka dropped to No. 4. Barty already briefly was No. 1 after winning the French Open in June for her first major championship.
Karolina Pliskova is No. 2, and Elina Svitolina is No. 3.
Three Americans made big moves in Monday’s rankings: 15-year-old Coco Gauff went up 34 places to 106th after reaching the third round before losing to Osaka, Kristie Ahn moved up 48 to 93rd and Taylor Townsend rose 33 to 83rd.
U.S. Open men’s champion Rafael Nadal stayed at No. 2 in the ATP rankings and closed the gap between him and No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the defending champion who exited in the fourth round.
Runner-up Daniil Medvedev is up to a personal-best No. 4 from No. 5 after reaching his first Grand Slam final, where he erased a big early deficit and pushed Nadal to five sets before losing to the Spaniard 7-5, 6-3, 5-7, 4-6, 6-4 in a match Sunday that lasted nearly five hours.
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Nadal collected his fourth trophy in New York and his 19th Grand Slam title in all, moving within one of Roger Federer’s record for men.
Federer remained at No. 3 in Monday’s rankings after losing in the quarterfinals while bothered by a bad back.
The man who beat him in five sets before losing to Dimitrov in the semifinals, Grigor Dimitrov, went from No. 78 to No. 25. The other man who lost in the semifinals, 23-year-old Matteo Berrettini, rose 12 spots to a career-best 13th.