Serena Williams and Li Na Remain on Top of WTA Tennis Rankings Despite Early Wimbledon Exits

Serena Williams and Li Na Remain on Top of WTA Tennis Rankings Despite Early Wimbledon Exits
Serena Williams of U.S. plays a return to Alize Cornet of France during their women's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in Wimbledon, London, Saturday, June 28, 2014. (AP Photo/Sang Tan)
Zachary Stieber
7/7/2014
Updated:
7/18/2015

Serena Williams and Li Na remain on the top of the WTA rankings despite early exits from a second straight major tournament.

Following early departures at the French Open, Williams and Na were both knocked out early at Wimbledon. Williams destroyed her first two opponents (6-1, 6-2; 6-1, 6-1) but fell to No. 25 Alize Cornet (6-1, 3-6, 4-6) in the third round. Cornet was defeated in the next round by rising Eugenie Bouchard, who went on to lose in the final.

Williams also withdrew from the doubles competition at the tournament. She was playing with her sister Venus Williams.

“I am heartbroken I’m not able to continue in the tournament,” Serena said in a statement. “I thought I could rally this morning, because I really wanted to compete, but this bug just got the best of me.”

Williams is going to play at the Collector Swedish Open, tournament director Nina Wennerstrom told ESPN. The tournament starts on July 14.

Halep, who remains at No. 3 in the world rankings, made it to the semifinals at Wimbledon before losing to Bouchard, who is among the players who moved up in the rankings.

Every other spot in the top 10 changed. Petra Kvitova rose from No. 6 to No. 4, Agnieszka Radwanska fell a spot to No. 5, and Maria Sharapova fell a spot to No. 6.

Bouchard rose from No. 13 to No. 7, Angelique Kerber fell a spot to No. 8, Jelena Jankovic fell a spot to No. 9, and Victoria Azarenka fell a spot to No. 10.

Other notable jumps included Lucie Safarova jumping from No. 23 to No. 17, Ekaterina Makarova jumping from No. 22 to No. 19, and Cornet jumping from No. 24 to No. 21. American players moving forward included Venus Williams jumping from No. 31 to No. 25, Madison Keys jumping from No. 30 to No. 27, and CoCo Vandeweghe jumping from No. 51 to No. 42.

Other notable falls included Sloane Stephens dropping from No. 18 to No. 22, Roberta Vinci falling from No. 21 to No. 24, and Sabine Lisicki falling from No. 19 to No. 33.