There won’t just be a new world No. 1 in the WTA singles rankings on Monday. One day after Iga Swiatek's fourth-round loss to Jelena Ostapenko confirmed that Aryna Sabalenka will end the Pole’s 75-week reign at the top when the new WTA rankings are released, the battle for the No. 1 women’s doubles ranking heated up further as four players remain in contention to take over the top spot.
The second-round exit last Friday from top seeds and defending champions Barbora Krejcikova and Katerina Siniakova guaranteed that there will be a new No. 1 in women's doubles. Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula’s third-round victory on Monday over Marta Kostyuk and Elena-Gabriela Ruse brought them both to 6,035 points in the WTA live doubles rankings, hopping over Elise Mertens (5,975), who lost in the opening round with Storm Hunter.
Gauff and Pegula will co-own the No. 1 ranking on Monday if they can reach the final. Should they lose before the championship match, they can still clinch the top spot if Taylor Townsend (playing with Leylah Fernandez) or Hsieh Su-wei (playing with Wang Xinyu) fail to take the title. Townsend and Hsieh can both become No. 1 with a title in New York.
All four No. 1 contenders are in the top half of the women’s doubles draw. Gauff and Pegula meet Hsieh and Wang in the quarterfinals. Fernandez and Townsend take on Gabriela Dabrowski and Erin Routliffe, who advanced via walkover on Wednesday against Barbora Strycova and Marketa Vondrousova.
Gauff is also still alive in the women's singles draw and will face Ostapenko in the quarterfinals. She is looking to become the first woman since Venus Williams (1999) to win the US Open women's singles and doubles title in the same year.
