Barty retains top place in WTA rankings

BEIJING - Australia's Ashleigh Barty remains the top place in the latest WTA world rankings released on Monday.

Barty has a best of 8,717 points, followed by Romania's Simona Halep on 6,076.

Swiss player Belinda Bencic managed the only gain in the top 10 players, moving to eighth from ninth at the cost of American veteran Serena Williams.

Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova surged 14 places to reach 32nd, and Briton Heather Watson moved up 20 spot to make 49th.