Though the official rankings will be out only on Thursday next week, Saina has been assured of her ascent to the top owing to the reigning world champion's 19-21 23-21 20-22 loss to third seed Thai Ratchanok Intanon. Saina thus becomes only the second Indian overall to be world number one after Prakash Padukone had the distinction of being the numero uno men's badminton player.