Ranking Movers: Kvitova storms back into Top 10, Niculescu moving up again
Just a year ago, Petra Kvitova was facing an uncertain future after suffering horrific knife injuries sustained in a home invasion in December 2016. Forced to sit out the first half of 2017 as she recovered, her ranking had fallen from No.11 to No.29 by the end of the year.
Just two months later over the course of a phenomenal February, the Czech has fixed that. Victory at the St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy was followed by wins in two Fed Cup rubbers against Switzerland - and then over the course of a gruelling 10 hours and 38 minutes last week, a battling run to the Qatar Total Open championship that will go down as one of Kvitova's most physically testing title runs.
Read more: Champions Corner: Kvitova digs deep to double up in Doha
En route, the 27-year-old came from a set down three times and defeated four consecutive Top 10 opponents: Elina Svitolina, Julia Goerges, Caroline Wozniacki and Garbiñe Muguruza. Appropriately enough, then, the result sees her rocket back into the Top 10 herself, ending Goerges' stint there at just one week.
Here are some of the fortnight’s most notable ranking movers:
Garbiñe Muguruza (+1, No.4 to No.3): Muguruza's run to the Doha final was the Spaniard's first since Cincinnati last August. Though she fell to Petra Kvitova in a thrilling final, the result was enough to see her regain the Top 3 spot she vacated after her second-round loss at the Australian Open to Hsieh Su-Wei - a move that comes at Elina Svitolina's expense.
Petra Kvitova (+11, No. 21 to No.10): Having fallen out of the Top 20 at the end of last year for the first time since debuting in it in January 2011, it's taken Kvitova just six weeks of play this season to regain her Top 10 status for the first time since June 2016. With no points to defend until May for the Czech, there's ample scope to climb even further.
Mihaela Buzarnescu (+4, No.43 to No.39): This time last year, Buzarnescu was ranked No.457, playing $15,000 ITF tournaments in Sharm el Sheikh and losing in early rounds to opponents such as Ipek Oz and Manisha Foster. Last week, the 29-year-old competed in her very first Premier 5 tournament in Doha - and scored her maiden Top 10 win over Jelena Ostapenko in the second round before falling to Julia Goerges. Another milestone ticked off.
Catherine Bellis (+7, No.48 to No.41): Young Bellis clearly has an affinity for the Middle East. Last year, she scored her first Top 10 win over Agnieszka Radwanska in Dubai; last week, she notched up a third, ousting Karolina Pliskova 7-6(4), 6-3 in the third round in revenge for the heavy 6-1, 6-1 defeat the Czech had inflicted on the 18-year-old in Brisbane in January. Bellis's run from qualifying to the quarterfinals also included a decisive 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 win over compatriot Madison Keys, demonstrating her growing ability to deal with the tour's heaviest hitters, and the American now sits just six spots off her career high of No.35.
Marketa Vondrousova (+6, No.58 to No.52): Fellow 18-year-old Vondrousova remains on Bellis's heels, hitting a new career high on the brink of the Top 50 thanks to coming through qualifying in Doha and beating Yulia Putintseva to make the second round.
Monica Niculescu (+17, No.92 to No.75): Former Top 30 player Niculescu put on one of the most delightful displays of unorthodox slice-and-dice tennis in the first round of Doha, running Maria Sharapova ragged to knock the former World No.1 out 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Having slid from inside the Top 40 to barely inside the Top 100 over the course of 2017, the Romanian - who has reached two quarterfinals already in 2018, in Hobart and Taipei City, as well as her third-round showing last week - is heading in the right direction again, landing in the Top 75 for the first time since October.
Anna Blinkova (+38, No.164 to No.126): Coming into Doha, Blinkova had fallen to No.164, her lowest ranking since January 2017. But the 19-year-old successfully qualified for the fourth time in four attempts in 2018 - and then went on an impressive run to the third round, scoring a revenge victory over Elena Vesnina (her conqueror at both Wimbledon and the US Open last year) in the first round and then notching up her maiden Top 20 win over Kristina Mladenovic in the second round. The Russian lands just 12 spots off the career high of No.114 she set last June.
Click here for more WTA Rankings from the week of February 19, 2018.
