MOSCOW, June 8 (RIA Novosti) - Victory in the French Open this weekend pushed Svetlana Kuznetsova back into the top five of the WTA rankings where she joins two other Russians and the U.S. Williams sisters.
Defeated Paris finalist Dinara Safina retained top spot in the latest Women's Tennis Association rankings, published on Monday, and there were no changes for Serena Williams, Venus Williams and Elena Dementieva either.
However, the rest of the top 10 was shaken up, with former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic continuing her slide, the Serb dropping from eight to 13. Nadia Petrova took advantage, rising one place to 10th.
Petrova's return means there are again five Russians in the top 10, with Vera Zvonareva pushed down a place to seventh by Kuznetsova's rise.
And there could soon be reinforcements on the way, with Maria Sharapova jumping 29 places to 73 after making the quarterfinals following almost a year of struggle with injury. In the past year the first Russian to top the WTA rankings has received points from just tournaments, but should her form and fitness hold, she would expect to rise rapidly up the rankings.
WTA rankings are determined by comparing each player's total ranking points accrued from tournaments played in the previous 52 weeks.
