In about two days, the WTA ranking will be updated and Garbine Muguruza of Spain will replace Karolina Pliskova at the summit. A two-time Grand Slam champion, Muguruza survived in New York just enough to gather the necessary amount of points to reach the peak. While Pliskova will go down after spending eight weeks as the world leader, Muguruza's reign is expected to last a bit longer.
She won't have that much to defend until the second part of 2018 which means that she could use the upcoming months to consolidate her tennis output and to become even more consistent. Seeded third in New York, Muguruza went through the first three rounds only to capitulate against Petra Kvitova in the round of 16.
WTA needs a dominant player
It's common knowledge that reaching the summit is easier than surviving there. In the absence of Serena Williams, the world No. 1 of women's tennis was either Angelique Kerber or Karolina Pliskova. The German did great in her bid to reach summit winning two Grand Slam titles along the way and playing a third Major final at Wimbledon.
But once she surpassed Serena Williams (after 2016 Us Open), she started to show multiple signs of weakness. Later, she went on losing in the early rounds of all big WTA tournament eventually losing her spot to Karolina Pliskova after 2017 Wimbledon.
The Czech tennis star has a similar story. During her short reign at the top, she was unable to produce something special. Despite reaching the higher stages of the WTA event throughout the summer swing, she failed to go all the way. In New York, she needed the match last year's result (2016 US Open runner-up) to be sure that she will stay at the top after the event. Losing to Coco Vandeweghe in the quarterfinals propelled Muguruza on the summit.
Having won two Grand Slam titles on such different surfaces like clay and grass, Garbine Muguruza has shown that she could be ready to start a new era in women's tennis.
Muguruza needs another victory
Winning the Premier 5 event in Cincinnati earlier this summer, she somehow broke the ice on a hard court. As the season will move into its Asian segment on hard, the Spaniard could use some solid runs in Wuhan or Beijing. The points at stake are not to be neglected as she has to work hard to keep her rivals behind. It'll be interesting to follow whether or not her reign will be different compared to that of Angelique Kerber or Karolina Plsikova. The 23-year-old from Spain is set to become the 24th to achieve the world No. 1 status in the Open Era.