Williams has 9,592 points for a comfortable advantage of 1,377 over Russia's Maria Sharapova in second.

Romania's Simona Halep, who returned to the top three last week,  retains her position ahead of Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic.

Outside the top 10, Kvitova's compatriot Lucie Safarova moved up  four places to 11th following her weekend victory at the Qatar Open.

WTA top 10 as of March 2 (previous ranking in parenthesis):

1. (1) Serena Williams, United States, 9,592 points 2. (2) Maria  Sharapova, Russia, 8,215 3. (3) Simona Halep, Romania, 6,571 4. (4)  Petra Kvitova, Czech Republic, 6,395 5. (5) Caroline Wozniacki, Denmark, 4,730 6. (6) Ana Ivanovic, Serbia, 4,425 7. (7) Eugenie Bouchard, Canada, 4,306 8. (8) Agnieszka Radwanska, Poland, 4,065 9. (9) Ekaterina Makarova, Russia, 3,420 10.(10) Andrea Petkovic, Germany, 3,190

--Sapa-dpa--