Australia Open Tennis: Ash Barty leaves egg all over American tennis icon's face after extending rankings lead

No one is catching Ash Barty now. Photo / Getty

Ash Barty ain't going nowhere, Pam.

The Australian Open champion remains on top of the newly updated WTA rankings after saluting in front of her home crowd on Saturday night.

Barty has been the world's number one ranked player for more than two years and will continue that streak well into 2022 despite a prediction from US tennis icon Pam Shriver her days were numbered.

"I feel like Ash Barty, as great as she is, I don't see her as being on top for 154 consecutive weeks," Shriver said in early January. "She's so solid, but I just think someone else is going to step up."

Barty (8331 points) sits a whopping 2633 points clear of second-placed Aryna Sabalenka (5698) after improving on last year's quarter-final finish at Melbourne Park.

Barbora Krejcikova (5533) moved up one place into third after making her first Australian Open quarter-final, while Iga Swiatek (4456) jumped five places to fourth after making the semis.

Garbine Muguruza, who Shriver tipped as the most likely to usurp Barty, took the biggest dive, falling four places to seventh after losing in the second round.

But that was nothing compared to the free-fall former world number one Naomi Osaka has undergone.

Last year's Australian Open winner lost 1870 ranking points after losing in the third round and dropped 72 places to now sit 86th in the standings.

Medvedev poised to catch Djokovic

Daniil Medvedev may have fallen just short of winning his second consecutive grand slam title in Melbourne but the Russian is well-placed to become world number one for the first time early this year.

Medvedev (10,125 points) moved within 1000 points of long-time top dog Novak Djokovic (11,015), who did not play in Australia and is set to pay the price.

Djokovic failed to defend the 2000 points he earned for winning last year's year-opening grand slam, although the points are yet to drop off because the Covid-delayed tournament was held in mid-February.

Italy's Matteo Berrettini was the only mover inside the ATP top 10, climbing above Andrey Rublev into sixth position after making the Australian Open semis.

Rafael Nadal (6875) is in fifth place after winning the tournament and pulled back most of the large gap between himself and fourth-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas (7170). Alexander Zverev remains in third (7780).

Elsewhere, Roger Federer fell 13 positions to number 30 after missing the trip to Melbourne with injury.

Alex de Minaur rose nine places to be the highest-ranked Australian at 33, while doubles champions Thanasi Kokkinakis (101) and Nick Kyrgios (120) remain outside the top 100 in singles.