Ashleigh Barty continues to lead the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world rankings, despite her Australian Open semi-final defeat to Sofia Kenin last month.

Barty fell in straight sets 7-6 7-5 to Kenin in Melbourne in January, with the American going on to beat Spain’s Garbine Muguruza in the final and register her first Grand Slam success.

But in the latest WTA rankings, released on Monday, Barty remains at the top of the pile ahead of Romania’s Simona Halep and Karolina Pliskova of the Czech Republic.

Australian Open winner Kenin is ranked seventh.

Nick Kyrgios is the highest-ranked Australian male player in the latest Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) rankings, coming in at 21.

WTA TOP 10 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Ashleigh Barty, Australia 2. (2) Simona Halep, Romania 3. (3) Karolina Pliskova, Czech Republic 4. (5) Belinda Bencic, Switzerland 5. (6) Bianca Andreescu, Canada 6. (4) Elina Svitolina, Ukraine 7. (7) Sofia Kenin, USA 8. (8) Kiki Bertens, Netherlands 9. (9) Serena Williams, USA 10. (10) Naomi Osaka, Japan