Youngsters Alex Eala and Kristina Liutova both made history with their maiden WTA Tour titles and have been richly rewarded in the rankings while world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka has a battle on her hands to keep top spot.

Rising Filipina Eala enjoyed a magical run at the Washington DC Open as she defeated the reigning Olympic champion Zheng Qinwen, the defending champion Leylah Fernandez, second seed Elina Svitolina and third seed and four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka to reach the final.

Facing top seed Jessica Pegula, the 21-year-old lost the opening set, but hit back in the second and ended up winning eight of the last 10 games to claim her maiden singles title with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 win.

With the win, Eala became the first Filipina to win a title and also earned an eight-place jump in the WTA Rankings to a new career high of No 20.

Liutova had an equally impressive run at the Memphis Open as she came through qualifying and then reached the second round after the top seed Ekaterina Alexandrova retired midway through the third set.

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The 16-year-old went on to beat Maja Joint, sixth seed Caty McNally, Elvina Kalieva and Darja Vidmanova to become the youngest active player to win a title.

Oh, and she did it on her debut on the WTA Tour.

Russian Liutova has surged 103 places to No 126 in the rankings as she now sits more than 100 spots above her previous best while Vidmanova is +22 to No 92.

Back to the top of the rankings and Sabalenka is now in her 94th consecutive week at No 1 for a total of 102 weeks, but she is under pressure as Elena Rybakina is just 494 adrift and could replace her after the Canadian Open.

The only change in the top 10 sees Elina Svitolina and Amanda Anisimova swap places.

Further down, Liudmila Samsonova is back in the top 50 as she is +15 to No 55 after reaching the quarter-final in DC and Elisabetta Cocciaretto is +9 to No 59 after doing likewise.

Renata Zarazua jumped 10 places to No 73 with her semi-final appearance in Memphis.

WTA Top 20

1. Aryna Sabalenka – 8,550

2. Elena Rybakina Kazakhstan – 8,056

3. Jessica Pegula United States – 6,625

4. Coco Gauff United States – 5,649

5. Mirra Andreeva – 5,293

6. Karolina Muchova Czechia – 5,618

7. Linda Noskova Czechia – 5,016

8. Iga Swiatek Poland – 4,539

9. Elina Svitolina Ukraine – 4,459 (+1)

10. Amanda Anisimova United States – 4,353 (-1)