Iga Swiatek secures stay at No. 1, will pass Wozniacki for 10th-most weeks at top spot

In a rematch of their nail-biting final at Roland Garros, Iga Swiatek battled past Karolina Muchova in the third round of Montreal on Thursday, 6-1, 4-6, 6-4. She’s now through to the quarterfinals of the National Bank Open for the first time in her career.

And with that result, Swiatek will reach a major milestone: she’s now guaranteed of keeping No. 1 next week, which will be her 72nd career week at the top spot, which will pass Caroline Wozniacki for standalone 10th-most weeks at No. 1 in WTA rankings history.

MOST WEEKS AT NO. 1 IN WTA RANKINGS HISTORY (since 1975):
377: Steffi Graf
332: Martina Navratilova
319: Serena Williams
260: Chris Evert
209: Martina Hingis
178: Monica Seles
121: Ashleigh Barty
117: Justine Henin
98: Lindsay Davenport
72: Iga Swiatek [including week of August 14th, 2023]
71: Caroline Wozniacki

Swiatek was only defending third-round points in Montreal this week, so the further she goes from here, the further she’ll buffer her lead at No. 1 as No. 2-ranked Aryna Sabalenka continues to threaten her top ranking throughout the summer.

In a stop-and-start match full of rain delays, the two originally split sets in the afternoon, then came back for just a few minutes in the early evening where Swiatek snuck out a break in the first game of the third set for a 1-0 lead before the skies opened up again.

Once the players resumed play one last time at night, they both held serve the rest of the way until Swiatek served it out.

“It was a pretty extraordinary day,” the world No. 1 said. “I don’t think I had this situation in my career, so I just wanted to use this opportunity to learn something new and see what I’m capable of.”

Swiatek, whose previous two appearances in Canada ended in third-round defeats in 2019 (to Naomi Osaka) and 2022 (to Beatriz Haddad Maia), will next play the winner of the late night match between Danielle Collins and Leylah Fernandez in the quarterfinals.