Beatriz Haddad Maia ends season due to injury, faces biggest ranking drop in three years

The South American first reached the top-60 in 2017 after a rapid breakthrough in Challenger tournaments at just 21 years old. However, the Brazilian faced injuries and a 10-month suspension in 2019, which ended up stunting her progress on the Tour for a few years.

It was not until 2022—at 26 years old—that the Brazilian achieved the best season of her career, winning two back-to-back grass-court titles at the Nottingham Open and Birmingham, in addition to reaching the final of the Canadian Open, where she ended up falling to former No. 1 Simona Halep.

A few months later, Haddad Maia achieved the milestone of entering the top-10 for the first time in her career after reaching her first Grand Slam semifinals at Roland Garros, falling to the 'Queen of Clay', Iga Swiatek, who was on her way to her third title at Roland Garros.

Since then, the Brazilian has been one of the protagonists of the Tour, but at 29 years old, she faces a sharp drop in the ranking. It has not been the best year for Haddad Maia, who had a poor performance in the first half of the year, especially in major tournaments, with only one victory in six appearances in WTA 1000 tournaments and no major performances in the Grand Slams (Australian Open - third round, French Open - first round, Wimbledon - second round).

In the North American hardcourt swing, she had three consecutive losses until her debut at the US Open, where she seemed to rediscover her form, reaching the 4th round, where she was defeated by the subsequent runner-up Amanda Anisimova. However, she still lost 200 ranking points for not defending the quarterfinals she had reached in 2024.

In addition to this, last week she showed up at the Korea Open as the defending champion, after winning the title in 2024 by beating Daria Kasatkina in three sets. This time she only reached the round of 16, falling in a three-hour match against the German Ella Seidel (No. 95) with a score of 7-6(4), 6-7(3), 5-7.

The Brazilian has now dropped out of the top-30 for the first time in more than three years, since June 2022—a total of 39 months being the No. 1 Latin American, displacing the Colombian Camila Osorio. She is also barely No. 46 in the Race, and without the possibility of adding points for the rest of the year, it is practically certain that she will drop out of the top-50 in the coming weeks.

She still remains the No. 1 Latin American in the ranking and in the Race, but her position could be at risk after three consecutive years being the best in the region, with the Colombians Emiliana Arango and Camila Osorio - or the Mexican Renata Zarazua - close in the Race.