NEW YORK, NY, USA - Garbiñe Muguruza will become the new WTA World No.1 when the updated rankings are released on Monday, September 11.
The 23-year-old reached the second week of the US Open for the first time this year before falling to Petra Kvitova in the fourth round, and has emerged on top of a field of eight women who could potentially have finished the tournament at No.1. Muguruza's position was sealed after current No.1 and last year's runner-up Karolina Pliskova fell to CoCo Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals, failing to defend her finalist points.
Muguruza becomes the second player representing Spain to achieve this historic milestone since the computer rankings were introduced in 1975, and would be the 24th woman overall to hold the No.1 ranking. She follows in the footsteps of compatriot Arantxa Sánchez-Vicario, who held the top spot for 12 weeks across three separate spells in 1995.
Born in Venezuela, Muguruza moved to Spain in 1999 at the age of six. Her rise to the summit comes after her second Grand Slam title, which she won at Wimbledon in July, beating Venus Williams in the final. She had previously won Roland Garros in 2016, when she became just the fifth woman to defeat Serena Williams in a major final.
Muguruza's rise to WTA World No.1 brings an end to the reign of Czech Pliskova, who spent eight weeks in the position this summer.
This triumph is the latest peak in a surging career that kicked off in style on her WTA debut in Miami in 2012, where - as an 18-year-old wildcard - she beat the World No.9 Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3 in just her second main draw match ever. Muguruza becomes No.1 off the back of the fifth WTA title of her career last month, the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati.
In the last 52 weeks - the period of time that contributes to rankings - Muguruza has been unbeaten in finals, winning two WTA titles (Wimbledon and Cincinnati), in addition to semifinals in Brisbane, Birmingham and Stanford.
She is one of only two players to have reached the second week at all four Slams in 2017, along with Venus Williams, and has eight Top 10 wins within the past year - including victories over two reigning No.1s, Angelique Kerber at Wimbledon and Pliskova in Cincinnati.
Muguruza will be presented with the WTA World No.1 Trophy, the focal point of which is a silver "star-map" tennis ball that represents the tennis universe. All World No.1s, past and present, are depicted by a diamond in the sky, which represents each champion’s mark on the sport.
The Spaniard had entered the US Open at No.1 on the Porsche Race to Singapore Leaderboard. The top eight singles and doubles teams will compete at the 2017 BNP Paribas WTA Finals Singapore presented by SC Global in October - an event at which she reached the semifinals on her 2015 debut.
