Tennis: Simona Halep slides to 5th place in WTA rankings

Romanian tennis player Simona Halep went down one place from the fourth to the fifth position in the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) rankings released on Monday. 

For Halep, who drops one notch for the second week in a row, this is the lowest world ranking since May 12, 2014, when she was last ranked 5th. 

Halep experiences a difficult year-beginning, with only two victories and four defeats (except for the victory and the defeat in Fed Cup). 

US player Serena Williams tops the rankings at a comfortable difference from the second-ranked, Germany's Angelique Kerber; next come Polish Agnieszka Radwanska and Spain's Garbine Muguruza. Halep is only 86 points behind Muguruza and has a 730-point advance from the next ranked, Carla Suarez Navarro. 

Monica Niculescu has climbed three steps and is now on the 34th spot, being the second Romanian player in the ranking, Irina Begu remains on the 36th position, Alexandra Dulgheru went down ten spots and is ranked 67th, while Andreea Mitu also lost three positions, being ranked 110th. 

In the doubles' rankings, Monica Niculescu climbed two positions and is now on the 30th, Irina Begu went down two places to the 38th, and Raluca Olaru lost three spots now being ranked 47th. 

The WTA singles rankings 
1 (1). Serena Williams (USA) 9,245 points 
2 (2). Angelique Kerber (Germany) 5,700 
3 (3). Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 5,450 
4 (5). Garbine Muguruza Blanco (Spain) 4,831 
5 (4). Simona Halep (Romania) 4,745 
6 (11). Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain) 4,015 
7 (6). Maria Sharapova (Russia) 3,562 
8 (7). Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 3,505 
9 (8). Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 3,483 
10 (10). Roberta Vinci (Italy) 3,455 
.......................................................... 
34 (37). Monica Niculescu (Romania) 1,380 
36 (36). Irina Begu (Romania) 1,345 
67 (57). Alexandra Dulgheru (Romania) 900 
110 (107). Andreea Mitu (Romania) 616 
126 (124). Patricia Tig (Romania) 448 
155 (153). Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 364 
162 (156). Ana Bogdan (Romania) 344 
204 (204). Mihaela Buzarnescu (Romania) 248 
223 (224). Cristina Dinu (Romania) 222 
233 (233). Alexandra Cadantu (Romania) 209 etc. 

The WTA doubles rankings 
1 (1). Martina Hingis (Switzerland) 12,925 points 
1 (1). Sania Mirza (India) 12,925 
3 (3). Iaroslava Shvedova (Kazakhstan) 5,895 
4 (4). Casey Dellacqua (Australia) 5,630 
5 (9). Yung-Jan Chan (Taiwan) 5,360 
6 (10). Hao-Ching Chan (Taiwan) 5,335 
7 (5). Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 5,300 
8 (6). Elena Vesnina (Russia) 5,245 
9 (7). Lucie Safarova (Czech Republic) 4,865 
10 (8). Lucie Hradecka (Czech Republic) 4,785 
............................................................ 
30 (32). Monica Niculescu (Romania) 2,215 
38 (36). Irina Begu (Romania) 2,030 
47 (44). Raluca Olaru (Romania) 1,570 etc. 

WTA Road to Singapore rankings 
1 (1). Angelique Kerber (Germany) 2,361 points 
2 (9). Carla Suarez Navarro (Spain 1,517 
3 (3). Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) 1,410 
4 (2). Serena Williams (USA) 1,300 
5 (4). Victoria Azarenka (Belarus) 930 
6 (7). Roberta Vinci (Italy) 892 
7 (6). Johanna Konta (UK) 812 
8 (5). Belinda Bencic (Switzerland) 787 
9 (10). Sara Errani (Italy) 641 
10 (173). Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 640 
................................................................... 
48 (66). Monica Niculescu (Romania) 290 
76 (60). Simona Halep (Romania) 197 
78 (63). Sorana Cirstea (Romania) 191 
95 (82). Alexandra Dulgheru 151 etc. 
AGERPRES