Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova climbed up 2 spots in the Women Tennis Association's rankings to 16th place on Monday.
Former World No. 1 Sharapova, 23, who recently made an impressive comeback after shoulder injury, lost her quarter-final 6-2 7-5 to Hungarian Greta Arn at the WTA Tour tournament in Auckland last week.
The rankings, topped by Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki with 8035 points, also include Russia's tennis players Vera Zvonavera, ranked second with 6785 points, and Elena Dementieva (4335), who holds ninth place.
Belgium's Kim Clijsters comes third in the ranking with 6635 points while U.S. sisters Serena Williams (5355) and Venus Williams (4985) took fourth and fifth places, respectively.
In 2005, Sharapova was the first Russian to hold the top spot in the WTA rankings.
In August 2010, Forbes magazine named Sharapova the world's highest-paid female athlete.
MOSCOW, January 10 (RIA Novosti)
