Barbora Krejcikova was rewarded for her victory in Dubai, where she beat the top three players in world, with a return to the Top 20 after climbing 14 places in the new WTA rankings released on Monday.
The 27-year-old Czech, who won the French Open in 2021, is up to No 16 following her remarkable performance in Dubai.
In successive matches, she came back from losing the first set 6-0 to defeat world No 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus in the quarterfinals, the American world No 3 Jessica Pegula in the semis and then, in straight sets, Iga Swiatek in the final.
It is a welcome return to the higher echelons of the game for Krejcikova who a year ago was ranked No 2.
In spite of the defeat Swiatek remains the No 1 by a clear margin.
Liudmila Samsonova (12th) and Beatriz Haddad (13th) swap places while Ekaterina Alexandrova (18th) and the Romanian Simona Halep, the former world No 1, now 19th, slip two spots.
Two-time Grand Slam winner Halep has not played since losing to qualifier Daria Snigur in the first round of last year’s US Open. In October she was provisionally suspended for a positive drugs test.
