With only one week and two tournaments -- Moscow and Luxembourg -- left in the WTA's regular season, the field for the year-end championship has been set since Oct. 2.
The retirement of Li Na opened up a spot in the eight-player singles field, and surging Caroline Wozniacki snagged the last one.
There are only two players scheduled to be in action this week (Petra Kvitova and Wozniacki), so it's an appropriate time to assess who's up and who's down as we approach the Oct. 20 BNP Paribas WTA Finals in Singapore.
No. 1 Serena Williams: As always, Serena is graded on a tough curve. Since winning the US Open, she's been a bit spotty in China. She lost her first match in Wuhan to Alize Cornet -- falling to the Frenchwoman for the third time this year. Serena won three matches in Beijing, but an ailing left knee forced her to grant Samantha Stosur a walkover in the quarterfinals. For several years, Serena defied gravity, but now age (she's 33, the same as Roger Federer) has left her wildly inconsistent.
No. 2 Maria Sharapova: She won her fourth title of the season, taking the China Open with a three-set win over Kvitova in the final. More importantly, Sharapova's back to the No. 2 ranking. She'll be seeded No. 2 in Singapore, avoiding Williams until at least the semifinals. This is important because she has lost her past 15 matches to Serena.
No. 3 Simona Halep: The 23-year-old beat Andrea Petkovic in a nasty 38-game match but couldn't get onto the court for her quarterfinal match with Ana Ivanovic. A cranky left hip was the culprit and you have to wonder if all of her success the past 18 months has caught up with her. She's probably already looking forward to her offseason rest.
No. 4 Petra Kvitova: Another tough grade, but this is your 2014 Wimbledon champion. Kvitova, the Wuhan champion, got to the final in Singapore but didn't record any overly impressive victories along the way. She's scheduled to play this week in Moscow.
No. 5 Eugenie Bouchard: She's risen to a career-high ranking, but 20-year-old Bouchard -- like Halep -- might be tired. She reached the final at Wuhan, but checked out in her first match in Beijing, losing to Sabine Lisicki. Last week, the top-seeded player in Linz, Austria, pulled out of her second-round match with Tsvetana Pironkova, complaining of a left leg injury.
No. 6 Agnieszka Radwanska: China was not kind to Radwanska, who lost her first match in Wuhan (to Wozniacki) and her second in Beijing (to Roberta Vinci). That's two out of three in the wrong column.
No. 7 Ana Ivanovic: She won her first three matches in Beijing -- in straight sets -- then got a walkover. Ivanovic lost to Sharapova in the semifinals, but is putting together a terrific season. Her year-end ranking likely will be her highest since 2008. Last week in Linz, perhaps looking ahead, she checked out of her second-round match with American Madison Brengle with a left hip injury.
No. 8 Caroline Wozniacki: After reaching the US Open final against her buddy Serena Williams, Wozniacki got to the semifinals in Wuhan, losing to Bouchard. She lost her first match in Beijing to Stosur in straight sets. She's scheduled to play this week in Moscow.