Elena Rybakina back in WTA top 3 after Australian Open victory

In the latest WTA rankings released today, Australian Open 2026 champion Elena Rybakina climbed from fifth to third place, back in the top three after two and a half years.

The first time Rybakina reached this milestone was in June 2023, with the rankings being the same as they are now, trailing only Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and Poland’s Iga Świątek. In her recent run at the Australian Open 2026, the 26-year-old Moscow-born player, representing Kazakhstan since 2018, defeated both of them.

Another Moscow-born Kazakhstani representative, Yulia Putintseva, who had almost reached the quarterfinals in Melbourne, climbed 24 positions at once to 70th place; however, this is not the peak for the 31-year-old tennis player, as she was 20th in January 2025.

The leader changed in the doubles ranking. Belgium’s Elise Mertens, 30, who won the Melbourne major in pair with China’s Zhang Shuai, climbed five places at once and got ahead of the previous No. 1 — Czech Kateřina Siniaková. Zhang also progressed from 15th to seventh place.

In the final, the Belgian-Chinese pair defeated Kazakhstan’s Anna Danilina and Serbia’s Aleksandra Krunić, depriving the Kazakhstani player of the opportunity to return to the top 10. Danilina climbed from 14th to 11th and Krunić from 17th to 13th.

Due to the way the WTA points system works, Rybakina and Putintseva also climbed several places, despite not having played in the AO 2026 doubles.