Melbourne –

Australian Open winner Naomi Osaka is now officially No. 2 in the world tennis rankings

Thanks to her fourth Grand Slam title, the Japanese were ahead of Simona Halep from Romania with only Australian Ashley Party left, as the newly published ranking confirms. The 23-year-old Osaka, who at the same time was already in first place, won the Melbourne final on Saturday in two sets against American Jennifer Brady. Brady, 25, was trained by German coach Michael Geiserer and thanks to her entry into the finals, she improved from 11 places to 13.

In the men’s category, Australian Open finalist Danielle Meduidio knocked out Austrian US Open winner Dominic Thiem and is now third better than ever. Standing in front of him is now nine-time Australian Open tennis winner Novak Djokovic from Serbia and Spanish star Rafael Nadal. Djokovic defeated Medvedev in the final on Sunday by three sets.

For Hamburg’s Alexander Zverev, nothing has changed in terms of placement. The 23-year-old remains seventh after the quarter-finals in Australia. Three-time Grand Slam winner Angelique Kerber fell one place after her first round and was ranked 26th.

© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210222-99-540186 / 2 (dpa)