FILE PHOTO: Tennis - Wuhan Open - Optics Valley International Tennis Center, Wuhan, China - October 13, 2024 Belarus' Aryna Sabalenka celebrates with the trophy after winning her final match against China's Qinwen Zheng REUTERS/Florence Lo/File Photo
(Reuters) - Aryna Sabalenka's return to top spot in the WTA rankings after leapfrogging Iga Swiatek has set up a thrilling end to the season, with next month's WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia likely to prove decisive in the race to end the year as world number one.
Sabalenka has enjoyed a spectacular season, defending her Australian Open title in January and adding the U.S. Open trophy to her cabinet last month, as well as enjoying victories in Cincinnati and Wuhan.
Players are mandated to compete in six WTA 500 events but Swiatek's decision to skip the tour's Asian swing due to fatigue meant the French Open champion will only manage to play in two this season.
The penalties saw her drop below Poland's Sabalenka in the rankings.
Sabalenka spent eight weeks at the summit last year before Swiatek overtook her with a victory at the season-ending WTA Finals and the Belarusian hopes for a longer stay as 'N1'.
"N1... Let's see for how long this time," she posted on X on Monday after the latest rankings were released.
Sabalenka is also not in action this week after her Wuhan success and will lose points for only playing in four WTA 500 events. She currently has 9,706 points while Swiatek has 9,665 ahead of the Finals, which will offer 1,500.
The Finals will be held on hard courts in Riyadh from Nov. 2-9 and feature the top eight singles players and doubles teams.
(Reporting by Shrivathsa Sridhar in Bengaluru; Editing by Peter Rutherford)
