A look at the biggest movers and shakers in the WTA rankings this week

The latest WTA rankings were released yesterday post the conclusion of the Australian Open. There have been quite a few noteworthy changes in the rankings.

Japan's Naomi Osaka, who won her maiden Australian Open crown, capped off a magnificent fortnight by also claiming the top slot in the WTA rankings. In the process she became the first woman since Jennifer Capriati in 2001 to win a Grand Slam immediately after her maiden Grand Slam triumph.

Osaka is the youngest World No. 1 since Caroline Wozniacki in 2010. She also created history of another kind when she became the first tennis athlete from Asia - male or female - to reach the top spot.

Czech Petra Kvitova also had a terrific couple of weeks in Melbourne. She too had a shot at claiming the top spot but a runner-up finish meant that she takes the second place - a jump of four places from her ranking of 6th prior to the start of the tournament.

Simona Halep, who was World No. 1 for a large part of 2018, slid to Number 3. 2018 Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber was the other big casualty as she slid from World Number 2 to Number 6.

Karolina Pliskova, who made the semi-finals following her impressive win over Serena Williams, moved to 5th in the rankings. 2018 champion Caroline Wozniacki slid 6 places to take the 9th position.

Sloane Stephens at 4th, Elina Svitolina at 7th, Kiki Bertens at 8th and Aryna Sabalenka at 10th round out the rest of the top 10 rankings. Comeback mom Serena Williams, who was a tad unlucky to lose her quarterfinal match against Karolina Pliskova, rose 5 places to 11th and will continue to be a strong contender at the rest of the Grand Slams this year.

Another American, Danielle Collins, who surprised us all by making it to the semi-finals, rose 12 places to occupy the 23rd position. Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova of Russia, who beat 9th seed Kiki Bertens and 5th seed Sloane Stephens, was another big mover - gaining 12 positions to be ranked World Number 32.

17-year old Amanda Anisimova made the 4th round and jumped 25 places to take the 62nd slot in the rankings. She is the youngest player in the Top 100.

Unlike the men's field, the women's field is much more open, with a number of players vying for the top rankings. Osaka will have to be at her very best in order to thwart any attempt by the other players to topple her from the summit.

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