World No.2 Serena Williams is guaranteed to return to the top of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour rankings, having defeated Ekatarina Makarova 6-3 6-2 in the second round of the China Open.
Serena had one condition to fulfill in order to overtake Dinara Safina – to go further at the China Open than the Russian. It proved to be an easy task as Safina lost in the second round to No.226-ranked Zhang Shuai, who became the lowest-ranked player ever to defeat a world No.1.
Safina is spending her 25th week at No.1. Williams will take her place next Monday and begin her 73rd career week as a top-ranked player. (photo: Ralf Reinecke)
