Record Breaker: Serena tops WTA rankings for third-most weeks

World number one Serena Williams stayed top of the WTA rankings for a 261st week, surpassing Chris Evert in the process.

Williams, 34, is now third in the all-time list for weeks spent atop the charts after the standings were updated on Monday.

American counterpart Evert - an 18-time grand slam champion - spent 260 weeks as world number one.

Williams, who first rose to the summit in July 2002, trails Steffi Graf (377) and Martina Navratilova (322) in the list.

The 21-time grand slam winner Williams cut short her season last week in order to be fully fit for 2016.

Meanwhile, Garbine Muguruza earned a career-high ranking of number five in the world.

The 21-year-old Spaniard improved three spots - leapfrogging Lucie Safarova, US Open champion Flavia Pennetta and Agnieszka Radwanska - after reaching the final of the Wuhan Open.

Muguruza retired with an ankle injury in the decider against Venus Williams on Saturday.

Karolina Pliskova and Angelique Kerber climbed into the top 10 as Carla Suarez Navarro and Ana Ivanovic dropped out.

Meanwhile, David Ferrer was the only mover inside the ATP’s top 10 on Monday.

Ferrer climbed above fellow Spaniard Rafael Nadal into seventh position.

Reigning Australian, French and US Open champion Novak Djokovic remains top of the rankings, clear of Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych and Kei Nishikori.