–
One more week before Wimbledon, and we’re no clearer on who the favorites amongst the top-ranked will be.
In Berlin, it was Marketa Vondrousova and Wang Xinyu in the final. In Nottingham, it was Dayana Yastremska and McCartney Kessler.
But if anything, some players gave themselves good shots to go deeper by squeezing into one of the 32 seeded spots for the draw, which will be held later this week.
But it was Vondrousova who reminded everyone that when she was healthy, she played good enough grass-court tennis to win Wimbledon two years ago. She’ll be an unseeded floater no one will want to see early in the first week.
Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 5 ===========> No. 4 (Paolini moves back up to her career high just because Zheng dropped 50 points to fall down to No. 5. It could make a difference for her at Wimbledon; then again, potential quarterfinal opponents could include Madison Keys, Mirra Andreeva and Iga Swiatek).
Magda Linette (POL): No. 31 ===========> No. 27 (Linette solidifies her spot in the Wimbledeon seedings with a semifinal effort in Nottingham)(Eastbourne/Dayana Yastremska).
Ashlyn Krueger (USA): No. 33 ===========> No. 31 (Krueger moves to a new career high even though she lost in qualifying in Berlin and lost her first-round match as a lucky loser. It could get her a seeded spot at Wimbledon. Krueger got in again a a lucky loser in Bad Homburg)(Bad Homburg/Beatriz Haddad Maia).
McCartney Kessler (USA): No. 42 ===========> No. 32 (Kessler was a surprise in Nottingham this week, and the 25-year-old American moves to a new career high – and a Wimbledon seed – by winning the tournament).
Wang Xinyu (CHN): No. 49 ===========> No. 33 (Wang looked great in Berlin this week, going from the qualifying to the final where she ran out of gas a little against Marketa Vondrousova. She got a little lucky facing Coco Gauff and her Roland Garros hangover early on. But she also played really, really well., ties her career high could squeeze in as a seed at Wimbledon if there’s one withdrawal).
Dayana Yastremska (UKR): No. 46 ===========> No. 42 (Yastremska also impressed this week in Nottingham, even with everything that’s going on back in her homeland. The effort earned her a special exempt spot into Eastbourne)(Eastbourne/[5] Magda Linette).
Markéta Vondrousová (CZE): No. 164 ===========> No. 73 (Vondrousova dropped out of the top 100 with over the last two weeks, after missing from Wimbledon to the end of last season – and then again from Dubai through to a return at Roland Garros. But winning the Berlin title in fine fashion has brought her inside the top 75 again. She beat Keys, Jabeur, Shnaider and Sabalenka en route. It’s her first title since she won Wimbledon two years ago. Being unseeded this year will have people pay close attention to where she lands in the draw).
Emilana Arango (COL): No. 81 ===========> No. 76 (The 24-year-old from Colombia is at a new career high, even though she lost in the first round of qualifying at both Nottingham and Eastbourne. Sometimes it’s about what other players don’t do. She’ll be making her Wimbledon main-draw debut after three unsuccessful attempts in qualifying the last three years, after making her Grand Slam debut at Roland Garros. It’s taken her awhile, at 24).
Rebeka Masarova (SUI): No. 112 ===========> No. 99 (Masarova, a former No. 62, is back into the top 100 after qualifying and losing to Aryna Sabalenka in the second round of Berlin. She still has to qualify at Wimbledon this week).
Panna Udvardy (HUN): No. 169 ===========> No. 152 (The 26-year-old Hungarian wins the ITF in Blois, France).
Dominika Salkova (CZE): No. 193 ===========> No. 167 (The 20-year-old from Czechia wins the ITF in Zagreb).
Janice Tjen (INA): No. 268 ===========> No. 210 (The 23-year-old from Indonesia wins back-to-back lower level ITFs in Luzhou and Taizhou, China, moving to another career high. Tjen completed a standout college career at Pepperdine by making the NCAA doubles final last year and is just starting on her pro journey).
Dasha Plekhanova (CAN): No. 593 ===========> No. 514 (The little-known Canadian, 21, makes the final at a $30K ITF in Decatur, Ill. and moves up to a career high. She mostly toils at the lower level ITFs in North America).
Katie Swan (GBR): No. 879 ===========> No. 753 (Remember Swan? She was a pretty highly-ranked young British prospect back in the day. She reached No. 2 in the rankings and was the junior Australian Open finalist – 10 years ago. Mostly based in the U.S. – Kansas, for her father’s job – from a young age, it never really happened for her; she peaked at No. 118 back in Oct. 2022. And then she sort of fell off the map. She was out from Feb-July 2024, came back for two tournaments, and then was out until April of this year when she started back at the Futures factory in Sharm El Sheikh with no ranking. She’s back now, at 26, and made the Decatur final last week after winning a $15K in San Diego the previous week. Swan won’t be at Wimbledon next week, but she was never shortchanged there – she’s played the main six times on wild cards, winning a total of one match back in 2018).
Ashlyn Krueger (USA) (No. 31)
McCartney Kessler (USA) (No. 32)
Rebecca Sramkova (USVK) (No. 36)
Sonay Kartal (GBR) (No. 49)
Hailey Baptiste (USA) (No. 54)
Emiliana Arango (COL) (No. 76)
Iva Jovic (USA) (No. 89)
Antonia Ruzic (CRO) (No. 91)
Janice Tjen (INA) (No. 210)
Julie Belgraver (FRA) (No. 239)
Zheng Qinwen (CHN): No. 4 ===========> No. 5 (Not playing last week ended up – possibly – making a difference for Zheng at Wimbledon, as she drops to the No. 5 spot in the seedings and so would face a top-four seed (including Sabalenka and Gauff) if she makes it to the final eight).
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ): No. 27 ===========> No. 34 (Putintseva will have to have two withdrawals among the 32 players ahead of her if she doesn’t want to go into Wimbledon unseeded. Then again, she’d be a pesky first-round opponent to play for a seed. Ask Maria Sakkari)(Bad Homburg/[WC} Maria Sakkari).
Anna Kalinskaya (RUS): No. 28 ===========> No. 40 (The former No. 11 is not 100% healthy. So it’s been a tough road. She lose first round in the Berlin qualifiers and drops her finalist’s points from last year. She’ll go into Wimbledon unseeded, which won’t really much matter if she’s not healthy. But she has round-of-16 points to defend).
Alycia Parks (USA): No. 47 ===========> No. 58 (You never know which Parks you’re going to get from week to week. But after a fairly disastrous loss to Canadian Carol Zhao at Queen’s Club two weeks ago, she didn’t play last week and drops her points from winning a now-defunct WTA 125 on grass in Gaiba. She qualified a year ago at Wimbledon, so at least this year she doesn’t have to do that).
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS): No. 63 ===========> No. 80 (The 32-year-old Aussie lost in the final round of qualifying in Berlin and drops her points from making the final at the now-defunct but perenially charming WTA tournament in Birmingham last year)(Bad Homburg/Linda Noskova).
Victoria Azarenka (BLR): No. 76 ===========> No. 105 (The Belarusian, who turns 36 next month, drops out of the top 100 with the loss of her points from 12 months ago. To put this in perspective, Azarenka first leaped into the top 100 after Wimbledon – in 2006, 19 years ago. And since then, she only dropped out in April 2017 when she had her son Leo. She was back in a year later. Azarenka didn’t play last week, and got through the qualifying in Bad Homburg this week)([WC] Laura Siegemund).
Rebecca Marino (CAN): No. 99 ===========> No. 114 (After a brief pop up into the top 100 with her final in Ilkley two weeks ago, Marino drops down again as she drops points from winning Ilkley last year, when it was held a week later. She’ll be in the Wimbledon qualifying this coming week).
Sara Errani (ITA): No. 243 ===========> No. 285 (Errani has pretty much said goodbye to singles, although you’d expect she might still play qualifying at the larger events if there is a spot available. So she won’t be that annoyed with this drop in her ranking).
Sloane Stephens (USA): No. 404 ===========> No. 478 (Stephens is injured, and did television at Roland Garros. But there doesn’t seem to be much buzz about if, or when she will come back. She’s still young at 32, but she’s been at this awhile).
About Post Author
