Madrid, Apr 2 (IANS): Simona Halep of Romania continued to lead the Women's Tennis Association rankings released on Monday, while United States' Sloane Stephens managed to leap into the top 10 for the first time in her career.

Stephens won a 7-6 (5), 6-1 match on Saturday afternoon over Latvia's Jelena Ostapenko, who maintained her fifth position in the rankings, in the Miami Open final, reports Efe.

Stephens' victory allowed her to climb three places to be ranked ninth.

Meanwhile, other players on the top 10 list maintained their positions except for Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic, who fell one spot replacing Germany's Angelique Kerber.

The current WTA rankings and point scores are as follows:

1. Simona Halep (Romania) 8,140 points

2. Caroline Wozniacki (Denmark) 6,790

3. Garbiñe Muguruza (Spain) 5,970

4. Elina Svitolina (Ukraine) 5,630

5. Jelena Ostapenko (Latvia) 5,611

6. Karolina Pliskova (Czech Republic) 4,730

7. Caroline Garcia (France) 4,625

8. Venus Williams (USA) 4,277

9. Sloane Stephens (USA) 3,938

10. Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) 3,271.