Caroline Wozniacki out of women's tennis top ten ranking

Copenhagen - Former world number one Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark has dropped out of the list of top-ten women tennis players for the first time in three years, the latest WTA ranking showed Monday.

Wozniacki is now ranked 11th, down from an earlier ninth place, marking the first time since June 2009 that the 22-year-old star has not made the top ten list, reports Xinhua.

France’s Marion Bartoli precedes the Dane in 10th place, while Belarus’ Victoria Azarenka and Russia’s Maria Sharapova hold first and second spots respectively, the WTA ranking shows.

The result reflects a steep decline in Wozniacki’s career, given that she ended 2011 as world number one after having won six WTA tournaments last year.

The latest drop follows Wozniacki’s first-round exit at the recent US Open, which means she lost the points she had earned at the same tournament last year. Earlier this summer, Wozniacki bowed out in the first round at Wimbledon.

Wozniacki is yet to win a grand slam tournament in her career, and has so far not won any titles in 2012, although she said she was less concerned about WTA rankings and was concentrating instead on winning a grand slam title earlier this year.

Only the top eight players in the world list will participate in the year’s final WTA tournament in Istanbul, but as of now 1,300 points separate Wozniacki from China’s Li Na, who is currently ranked eighth.

Wozniacki does, however, have the opportunity to make up points and rise in the table if she performs well at upcoming WTA tournaments in Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing later this year.