Serena Williams leads in latest WTA rankings, Sharapova trails by a big margin

American tennis ace Serena Williams has maintained her number one spot in an unchanged top 10 in women's tennis world rankings that were released on Monday by the WTA.

Williams remains on top with 9,592 points and maintains a comfortable advantage of 1,377 over Russia's Maria Sharapova in second.

Romania's Simona Halep, who returned to the top three last week, retains her position ahead of Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, Sport24 reported.

Outside the top 10, Kvitova's compatriot Lucie Safarova moved up four places to 11th following her weekend victory at the Qatar Open.

The current WTA top 10 are:
1. Serena Williams
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Simona Halep
4. Petra Kvitova
5. Caroline Wozniacki
6. Ana Ivanovic
7. Eugenie Bouchard
8. Agnieszka Radwanska
9. Ekaterina Makarova
10. Andrea Petkovic