Dubai is the first WTA 1000 tournament on the record for Paolini, 28, who obtains the best ranking of her career by entering the Top 20 for the first time. The Italian beat the Russian Anna Kalinskaya in the final, who defeated the Polish Iga Swiatek, world No.1, in the semi-final and who also made a significant jump to 24th place (16th), just behind Caroline Garcia (23rd).
The Frenchwoman, who was eliminated at the start of Dubai, fell two places but remains the highest ranked French player, ahead of Clara Burel (46th, 1), Varvara Gracheva (55th, -6), Diane Parry (62nd, 1 ) and Océane Dodin (82, -1).
The top of the world ranking remains almost unchanged, behind the leading trio formed by Swiatek, the Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka and the American Coco Gauff. The Czech Marketa Vondrousova took 7th place at the expense of the Chinese Qinwen Zheng. The Greek Maria Sakkari, 9th, gained two positions to overtake the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko and the Czech Karolina Muchova.