Taylor Townsend set to rise to No. 1 in doubles after reaching final in Washington D.C.

Taylor Townsend is set to rise to No. 1 when the new WTA doubles rankings come out on Monday, after reaching the doubles final in Washington D.C. alongside China’s Zhang Shuai.

The two advanced past Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina in the semifinals of the WTA 500 event on Friday when Raducanu was forced to stop down 4-1 in the first set due to illness.

"It feels like a dream and is without a doubt one of the highlights of my career," Townsend told the WTA. "I loved watching doubles, especially Martina Navratilova play, and it's an incredible honor to join the list of amazing players to have earned the No.1 ranking."

Townsend will be the 50th player to reach No. 1 in WTA doubles rankings history, since they began on September 10th, 1984, and the 13th American player to achieve the feat after Navratilova, Pam Shriver, Gigi Fernandez, Lindsay Davenport, Corina Morariu, Lisa Raymond, Liezel Huber, Venus Williams, Serena Williams, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, Coco Gauff and Jessica Pegula.

She’ll also be the fifth left-hander to do it after Navratilova, Lucie Safarova, Ekaterina Makarova and Storm Hunter.

And she’ll also become the first mom to reach No. 1 on the WTA doubles rankings—she returned to the tour in April of 2022 after giving birth to her son, Adyn Aubrey, in March of 2021.

Townsend will replace her usual partner, Katerina Siniakova, at No. 1—Siniakova is spending her 161st career week there this week, and 46th straight since the end of the US Open last year.

A player's WTA doubles ranking is based off of their best 12 results over the last 12 months, and nine of both Townsend and Siniakova's best 12 results have come with each other—two titles (the Australian Open and Dubai this year), one more final (the WTA Finals last year), four more semifinals (the US Open last year and Indian Wells, Miami and Wimbledon this year) and two more quarterfinals (Cincinnati last year and Roland Garros this year).

But when it comes down to their other three best results, Townsend now surpasses Siniakova—the Czech's total 835 ranking points, while Townsend's will now total either 945 or 1,120 ranking points, depending on how the final goes in D.C.

Townsend lists Navratilova as her tennis idol on her WTA bio, and now she joins her on the legendary list of WTA doubles No. 1s.

THE 50 WTA DOUBLES NO. 1s (since WTA doubles rankings began on September 10th, 1984, and in chronological order):

• Martina Navratilova, USA [September 10th, 1984]
• Pam Shriver, USA [March 18th, 1985]
• Helena Sukova, CZE [February 5th, 1990]
• Jana Novotna, CZE [August 27th, 1990]
• Gigi Fernandez, USA [March 4th, 1991]
• Natasha Zvereva, BLR [October 7th, 1991]
• Larisa Neiland, LAT [January 27th, 1992]
• Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, ESP [October 19th, 1992]
• Lindsay Davenport, USA [October 20th, 1997]
• Martina Hingis, SUI [June 8th, 1998]
• Anna Kournikova, RUS [November 22nd, 1999]
• Corina Morariu, USA [April 3rd, 2000]
• Lisa Raymond, USA [June 12th, 2000]
• Rennae Stubbs, AUS [August 21st, 2000]
• Julie Halard-Decugis, FRA [September 11th, 2000]
• Ai Sugiyama, JPN [October 23rd, 2000]
• Paola Suarez, ARG [September 9th, 2002]
• Kim Clijsters, BEL [August 4th, 2003]
• Virginia Ruano Pascual, ESP [September 8th, 2003]
• Cara Black, ZIM [October 17th, 2005]
• Samantha Stosur, AUS [February 6th, 2006]
• Liezel Huber, USA [November 12th, 2007]
• Venus Williams, USA [June 7th, 2010]
• Serena Williams, USA [June 7th, 2010]
• Gisela Dulko, ARG [November 1st, 2010]
• Flavia Pennetta, ITA [February 28th, 2011]
• Kveta Peschke, CZE [July 4th, 2011]
• Katarina Srebotnik, SLO [July 4th, 2011]
• Sara Errani, ITA [September 10th, 2012]
• Roberta Vinci, ITA [October 15th, 2012]
• Peng Shuai, CHN [February 17th, 2014]
• Hsieh Su-Wei, TPE [May 12th, 2014]
• Sania Mirza, IND [April 13th, 2015]
• Bethanie Mattek-Sands, USA [January 9th, 2017]
• Lucie Safarova, CZE [August 21st, 2017]
• Latisha Chan, TPE [October 23rd, 2017]
• Elena Vesnina, RUS [June 11th, 2018]
• Ekaterina Makarova, RUS [June 11th, 2018]
• Timea Babos, HUN [July 16th, 2018]
• Barbora Krejcikova, CZE [October 22nd, 2018]
• Katerina Siniakova, CZE [October 22nd, 2018]
• Kristina Mladenovic, FRA [June 10th, 2019]
• Barbora Strycova, CZE [July 15th, 2019]
• Aryna Sabalenka, BLR [February 22nd, 2021]
• Elise Mertens, BEL [May 10th, 2021]
• Coco Gauff, USA [August 15th, 2022]
• Jessica Pegula, USA [September 11th, 2023]
• Storm Hunter, AUS [November 6th, 2023]
• Erin Routliffe, NZL [July 15th, 2024]
• Taylor Townsend, USA [July 28th, 2025]