Osaka maintains slender lead as Djokovic heads into clay season

PARIS, Ap 08 (AFP): Japan's Naomi Osaka maintained a slender lead over Romanian Simona Halep at the top of the WTA rankings released on Monday.

Osaka now sits 185 points ahead of Halep, with Czech pair Petra Kvitova and Karolina Pliskova in third and fourth.

American Madison Keys, winner of the WTA event in Charleston last week, jumped four spots to 14th.

Meanwhile, Novak Djokovic moves into his 20th week as world number one on Monday as the clay season gets under way.

The Serb is almost 2,500 points ahead of Rafael Nadal while third-placed Alexander Zverev will hope to pick up points at the Marrakech claycourt event this week when Britain's Kyle Edmund will hope to make moves to regain his place in the top 20.