WTA rankings: Li Na closes in on No. 2 after Australian Open title

Li Na trails No. 2 Victoria Azarenka by only 11 points. (Chris Hyde/Getty Images)

Li Na is closing in on the WTA Tour's No. 2 ranking after winning the Australian Open.

The two-time major champion moved up one spot this week, to a career-high-tying No. 3, and she trails second-ranked Victoria Azarenka by only 11 points. Serena Williams remains comfortably in the No. 1 position.

ATP rankings: Federer falls to No. 8

In other rankings news:

• Maria Sharapova slipped from No. 3 to No. 5 after a fourth-round loss. Agnieszka Radwanska is now sandwiched between Li and Sharapova at No. 4.

• Simona Halep supplanted Caroline Wozniacki at No. 10, becoming the third Romanian to be ranked that high.

• Australian Open finalist Dominika Cibulkova climbed from No. 24 to No. 13. Her career high is No. 12.

• Eugenie Bouchard, 19, made her top-20 debut, at No. 19, after reaching the semifinals in Melbourne. She's one spot behind Sloane Stephens, who dropped from 13th to 18th after falling two rounds short of last year's semifinal appearance.

Here's an explanation of the WTA's rankings system:

The WTA rankings are based on a 52-week, cumulative system. A player's ranking is determined by her result at a maximum of 16 tournaments for singles. The tournaments that count towards a player's ranking are those that yield the highest ranking points during the rolling 52-week period. They must include points from the Grand Slams, Premier Mandatory tournaments and the WTA Championships. For Top 20 players, their best two results at Premier 5 tournaments (Doha, Rome, Cincinnati, Montréal/Toronto and Wuhan) will also count.