Ashleigh Barty of Australia hits a return during the women's singles semifinal match between Sofia Kenin of the United States and Ashleigh Barty of Australia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Zhu Hongye)
Ash Barty remains world No. 1.
SYDNEY, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Australian young gun Ash Barty remains at the top of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) world rankings on Tuesday, despite going down in the semifinal stage of the Australian Open Grand Slam last month.
After claiming the Adelaide International title in January, the 23-year-old star was then bounced out of the final four in the Aussie Grand Slam 7-6, 7-5, by American Sofia Kenin.
Ashleigh Barty (R) of Australia greets the audience after the women's singles semifinal match between Sofia Kenin of the United States and Ashleigh Barty of Australia at the Australian Open tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia on Jan. 30, 2020. (Xinhua/Bai Xuefei)
Despite the loss, however, Barty retained her No. 1 status, while Sofia Kenin who went on to defeat Spain's Garbine Muguruza in the final, surged up to the seventh place.
Romania's Simona Halep held on to the second spot, the Czech Republic's Karolina Pliskova held on to third, Switzerland's Belinda Bencic moved one place higher to claim fourth and Canada's Bianca Andreescu rounded out the top five places.
Meanwhile, former world No. 1 from Japan Naomi Osaka dropped to 10th position, will 23-time Grand Slam winner Serena Williams from the U.S. came in at ninth. ■