Serena Williams is going back to the top of the WTA rankings.
Williams needed to win her second-round match at the China Open to reclaim the No. 1 ranking, because the nuumber 1 player, Dinara Safina, couldn’t get past that early round at the tournament.
Williams won with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Ekaterina Makarova of Russia.
Safina’s loss made No. 226 Zhang the lowest-ranked woman to defeat a No. 1. Julie Coin of France was ranked 188th when she beat then-No. 1 Ana Ivanovic at the 2008 U.S. Open.
In other action, Maria Sharapova rallied for a 6-3, 6-7 (5), 7-5 win over Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, and Peng Shuai of China upset defending champion Jelena Jankovic 4-6, 7-5, 6-2.
Fourth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Melinda Czink of the Czech Republic 6-4, 6-3.
Williams has spent a total of 72 weeks as No. 1. The American said her focus for the rest of the year would be the WTA Tour Championships in Doha at the end of October.
Sharapova, who last week won the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo for her first tournament victory since returning from a 10-month injury layoff, recovered from a 5-2 deficit in the final set, winning five games in a row as ninth-ranked Azarenka struggled.
Jankovic, who retired in last week’s Tokyo final, said her arm and wrist still bother her. She said it was especially apparent in the third set.
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