Oct. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Russia’s Dinara Safina will replace Serena Williams as the No. 1 tennis player on the women’s tour after the American held the top spot for two weeks.

Safina, who has never won a major, will overtake Williams, the reigning Wimbledon and Australian Open champion, when the rankings are published Oct. 26, the WTA Tour said in an e-mailed statement today.

The women are five points apart. Safina moves back to No. 1 because the points earned at the 2008 year-end Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha come off, the WTA said. During the 2009 season, Safina has earned more ranking points than any other player on the tour by winning titles in Rome, Madrid and Portoroz and reaching six finals in total, the tour said.

Safina first took the No. 1 spot on April 20, following her brother, Marat Safin, in being ranked as the world’s top tennis player and making them the first brother-sister duo in tennis history to achieve the feat. The Russian’s rise to No. 1 had been criticized by Williams because of her lack of a major title. Williams regained her No. 1 ranking two weeks ago after Safina suffered two early losses to lower-ranked players in Asia.

Safina will now head to the season-ending Sony Ericsson Championships, which start Oct. 27 in Qatar, as the top seed. Former top-ranked Jelena Jankovic of Serbia today became the eighth and last player to qualify for Doha, where the women will compete for a share of a record $4.55 million in prize money.

Jankovic and Safina will be joined by Serena and Venus Williams, Elena Dementieva, Caroline Wozniacki, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Victoria Azarenka.

To contact the reporter on this story: Danielle Rossingh in London at drossingh@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: October 22, 2009 10:24 EDT