Ashleigh Barty is getting closer and closer from reclaiming her world no.1 rank.
The Australian sensation is currently in the semifinal in Cincinnati after a successful, but complicated run following her wins over Maria Sharapova 6-4 6-1, Anett Kontaveit 4-6 7-5 7-5 and Maria Sakkari 5-7 6-2 6-0.
Live rankings
Ashleigh has now 6501 “live” points while Osaka is stuck with 6606 points after she had to withdraw in the quarter final against Sofia Kenin because of her knee injury.
If Barty reaches the final in Ohio, she will have 6736
live points that will be enough for her to dethrone Naomi Osaka again from the top spot of the rankings starting from Monday.Also, this week Ashleigh does need to be worried about other players aiming at the world no.1 rank after Karolina Pliskova lost in the quarters in Cincinnati to Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The semifinal
Ashleigh will face Kuznetsova in the semifinal for the 1st time in her career.