The 23-year-old, who has often complained of an exhausting tennis calendar hasn’t played a tournament since her quarterfinal exit at the US Open in August. During that time, she also parted ways with coach Tomasz Wiktorowski and chose not to play for two more weeks after announcing the split.

This gave Sabalenka the opportunity to reduce the gap and as Swiatek lost points for not featuring in mandatory tournaments, she was leapfrogged by the Belarusian.

Andy Roddick praises the rivalry between Iga Swiatek and Aryna Sabalenka

Aryna Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek have emerged as fierce rivals in recent years. They are entertaining the tennis community by giving each other tough competitions in the tournaments and Andy Roddick thinks fans are lucky to watch the rivalry between these two women.

Swiatek and Sabalenka met 12 times on the WTA Tour and the former leads their head-to-head encounter 8-4. In their last encounter in the semifinal of the Cincinnati Open however, it was Sabalenka who prevailed in straight sets before lifting the title with a straight-set win over Jessica Pegula.

Although the Pole, who is 54/ 7 on the season, has won five titles this year which also includes the French Open, Sabalenka is the winner of two Grand Slam trophies. She defended her Australian Open crown before taking home her first US Open.

The 26-year-old last played the Wuhan Open which she won after beating home favorite Qinwen Zheng in three sets. She has clinched four titles this year and is 54/ 12 on the season.