Novak Djokovic extends Australian Open winning streak to 23 matches after stopping qualifier Couacaud

Emma Raducanu and Leylah Fernandez took the US Open by storm over the last two weeks and their heroics propelled them up the WTA rankings this week, with Raducanu rising from No. 150 to No. 23 and Fernandez jumping from No. 73 to No. 28.

For Raducanu, No. 150 was already a career-high—she was only playing her second Grand Slam, and just her fourth tour-level event (yes, you read that right). She became the third-lowest-ranked woman to win a Grand Slam title in WTA rankings history, after two unranked players won majors—Evonne Goolagong at the Australian Open in December 1977 and Kim Clijsters at the US Open in 2009.

Now, the 18-year-old Brit makes her Top 100 and Top 50 debut all in one shot, and there’s one more thing—she passes Heather Watson and Johanna Konta to become the new British No. 1 on the WTA rankings. Konta had been the British No. 1 since 2015.

Fernandez had never been ranked higher than No. 66 going into the US Open, but she’s now suddenly in the Top 30 as well after becoming the youngest woman to beat three Top 5 players at a major since Serena Williams at the 1999 US Open (Fernandez took out No. 3 Naomi Osaka, No. 5 Elina Svitolina and No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka en route to her first Grand Slam final in Flushing Meadows).

With Bianca Andreescu currently at No. 20, this is the first time two Canadian women have been in the Top 30 of the WTA rankings at the same time since 1987, when Carling Bassett-Seguso and Helen Kelesi were in the elite group together.

There were several other notable moves on the WTA rankings, including Barbora Krejcikova rising from No. 9 to a new career-high of No. 7 after reaching the quarterfinals in her US Open main draw debut; Maria Sakkari going from No. 18 to No. 13, her Top 15 debut, after reaching her second semifinal at the last three majors; and 17-year-old American Coco Gauff rising from No. 23 to No. 19, her Top 20 debut.

Raducanu and Fernandez played the ninth all-teenage Grand Slam women's final of the Open Era. The first eight were all between 1988 and 1999.

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With so many players dropping big chunks of points from deep runs at the US Open in 2019 and 2020, there were a few big breakthroughs on the ATP rankings by players who probably weren’t even very satisfied with their runs in New York this year.

Despite falling in the third round, Andrey Rublev rose from No. 7 to No. 5—his Top 5 debut—with Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem dropping winner’s points from the last two US Opens. And even though he fell in the second round, Casper Ruud inched up from No. 11 to No. 10, his Top 10 debut, after Denis Shapovalov dipped from No. 10 to No. 12 (he was defending quarterfinal points but fell third round this year).

Other notable new career-highs included Matteo Berrettini rising from No. 8 to No. 7 after reaching the quarterfinals in New York, having been stuck in the No. 8-10 range since 2019, and Felix Auger-Aliassime going from No. 15 to No. 11 after becoming the first man born in the 2000s to reach a Grand Slam semifinal.

Auger-Aliassime also passed Shapovalov to become the new Canadian No. 1.

There were more ATP ranking debuts: American Reilly Opelka rose from No. 24 to No. 19, his Top 20 debut, after reaching the fourth round of a major for the first time; 18-year-old Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz went from No. 55 to No. 38, his Top 50 debut, after becoming the youngest man to reach a Grand Slam quarterfinal since Michael Chang at 1990 Roland Garros; and Botic van de Zandschulp soared from No. 117 to No. 62, his Top 100 debut, after coming through qualifying and making it all the way to his first major quarterfinal (taking out Ruud and Diego Schwartzman along the way).

18-year-old @AlcarazCarlos03 breaks into Top 50 at career-high No. 38 in @FedEx ATP Rankings.

Alcaraz becomes highest-ranked player at his age since @RafaelNadal was No. 37 as 17-year-old during week of 26 April 2004.
— ATP Media Info (@ATPMediaInfo) September 13, 2021