Victoria Azarenka Widens Lead as WTA's No. 1
By Nick Georgandis
Surely, Victoria Azarenka
won’t go the entire season without a loss, but her 17-0 commencement to the 2012 season is allowing her to run away and hide with the WTA points lead.
With her victory at Doha on Sunday – the 11th title of her career and third of 2012 – Azarenka expanded her lead on No. 2 Maria Sharapova to nearly 2,000 points (9,260 to 7,680).
The Top 10 spots remained unchanged, although American Serena Williams moved past Francesca Schiavone to 11th and German Sabine Lisicki
jumped up to 13th, her career high to date.
The biggest drop of note came from former Grand Slam winner Svetlana Kuznetsova, who spiraled down from 18th to 27th after falling in the third round at Doha last week. Kuznetsova won Dubai at the same point in time a week ago, and her points took a hit as a result.
American Christina McHale, still three months short of her 20th birthday, used her quarterfinal appearance at Doha to spring board to No. 34 in the world, a new career high.