Former US Open champs Andreescu, Raducanu make big leaps

The Hologic WTA Tour’s grass-court swing kicked off last week at WTA 250 events in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Nottingham, with Liudmila Samsonova and Katie Boulter taking home the silverware.

Several of this year’s comeback players made strides at these events, including two former US Open champions who returned to the Top 200.

In ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Bianca Andreescu reached her seventh career final, and second on grass, before falling to Samsonova in a three-set thriller. Andreescu, the 2019 US Open winner, was playing her second tournament of the year after being sidelined for nine months with a stress fracture in her back. She was the lowest-ranked WTA finalist so far this year at No.228.

In her comeback event three weeks ago, Andreescu made the Roland Garros third round. The Canadian is 6-2 since returning and moves up 65 places to No.163 in the latest edition of the PIF WTA Rankings.

In Nottingham, 2021 US Open champion Emma Raducanu reached her third career semifinal — and first since Seoul back in 2022. The Briton, who withdrew from Roland Garros to focus on the grass and hard-court swings, rises 44 places from No.209 to No.165.

Former World No.1 Naomi Osaka also delivered a promising week, taking out Elise Mertens in ‘s-Hertogenbosch en route to the quarterfinals. Though Osaka lost a knife-edge match against Andreescu in a third-set tiebreak, the four-time major champion climbs another 12 places from No.125 to No.113.

Other new career highs

A handful of players who were not in action last week moved up to new career-high positions:

Back in October of 2018, Katerina Siniakova rose to No.31 in the rankings — a position that would remain her career high for more than five years. The Czech got as high as No.32 again in July 2023 but had fallen to No.90 by September.

But Siniakova finished 2023 strongly, reaching the Hong Kong final and winning her fifth career title, in Nanchang, the following week. She has put together a solid 2024, with wins against Coco Gauff in Doha and taking home the WTA 125 title in Lleida.

Siniakova moves up one place from No.31 to make her Top 30 debut at No.30.

Marta Kostyuk and Emma Navarro were also inactive last week, but inch up one place each to hit new career highs of No.16 and No.17, respectively.

Other notable rankings movements

Karolina Pliskova (+8, No.50 to No.42): The former World No.1 notched her first Top 10 win in 14 months with a victory against Ons Jabeur in the Nottingham quarterfinals en route to her second final of the year.

Diane Parry (+11, No.64 to No.53): In Nottingham, Parry reached her third career tour-level semifinal, her first since Lausanne last July and her first on grass.

Dalma Galfi (+18, No.138 to No.120): The Hungarian reached her second career tour-level semifinal (and first since Budapest 2021) in ‘s-Hertogenbosch as a qualifier. Galfi’s career high is No.79, hit in September of 2022.

Viktoriya Tomova (+6, No.69 to No.63): This past week in Valencia, the 29-year-old from Bulgaria climbed six places to a new career high of No.63 after reaching her third career WTA 125 final.

Ann Li (+32, No.172 to No.140): Former No.44 Li claimed the Valencia WTA 125 title on clay last week — the American’s biggest title since winning Tenerife 2021 at the WTA 250 level.

Robin Montgomery (+24, No.173 to No.149): The 19-year-old American reached her first tour-level quarterfinal in ‘s-Hertogenbosch after upsetting Magda Linette and Jule Niemeier. The 2021 US Open junior champion is now just six places off the career high of No.143 she set last July.

Sara Saito (+44, No.210 to No.166): The former junior No.2 makes her Top 200 debut after winning the biggest title of her career to date at last week’s Biarritz ITF W100 on clay. Saito, 17, also made the final qualifying round of Roland Garros last month in her Grand Slam qualifying debut. The Japanese teenager, who started 2024 at No.364, extended her win-loss record this year to 30-12.

Francisca Jorge (+27, No.208 to No.181): Jorge also won the biggest title of her career at last week’s Guimaraes ITF W75 on home soil. The 24-year-old hits a new career high and becomes the highest-ranked Portuguese woman since Michelle Larcher De Brito in September of 2015.

Francesca Jones (+31, No.249 to No.218): As a home wild card in Nottingham, Jones reached her second tour-level quarterfinal. The 23-year-old Briton, who was sidelined for five months with an injury last year, set her career high of No.149 in February of 2022.

Shi Han (+53, No.357 to No.304): Just over a year ago, Shi was ranked No.1056. The Chinese 19-year-old collected her second ITF W50 title of 2024 last week in Taizhou and moves to a new career high.

Aleksandra Krunic (+82, No.400 to No.318): The Serb became the lowest-ranked player to defeat a Top 5 player this year after upsetting Jessica Pegula along he way to the ‘s-Hertogenbosch quarterfinals. It was former No.39 Krunic’s first Top 10 win since 2018. The 31-year-old Krunic returned from an ACL injury at Wimbledon last year.

Luna Vujovic (+112, No.973 to No.112): The youngest player in the Top 1000 at 14 years old, Serbia’s Vujovic reached her second pro final in five tournaments at the Banja Luka ITF W15 two weeks ago.