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Season done.

WTA 125s still going on, as is a bit of a race to try to get into the top 100, or the top 250, in time for the deadlines for the 2024 Australian Open.

For the main draw, that deadline is a week from now. So the clock is ticking.

On the happy side of things, Ajla Tomljanovic wins her first title in 10 years – and, even though it’s not a WTA event, the biggest.

That’s kind of surprising given how long she’s been around. But the truth is also that she has played her best tennis since coming back from shoulder surgery – something that’s not true of most women who go under that knife. And then, injuries hit again since she ended Serena Williams’s career on Arthur Ashe Stadium just over a year ago.

Almost no changes in the top 50.

For the complete, updated WTA rankings for Monday, click here.

ON THE UPSWING

Nadia Podoroska (ARG): No. 75 =========> No. 69 (After a making back to back semifinals at the WTA 125s in Colina, Chile and Florianopolis, Brazil, Podoroska pulled out of a similar event at home in Argentina this week. and wrapped up her season, which surely disappointed both the tournament and her fans there. But probably a wise move, given her injuries recently. She began the season ranked No. 196 as she came back from injury and even though her record was a rather modest 39-31, she did enough to climb right back up the rankings and earn nearly $600K for the season, too).

Yuan Yue (CHN): No. 87 =========> No. 77 (The 25-year-old from China has gone on a bit of a tear to end the season, culminating with a final at the $100K in Japan last week. Two months ago, she was at No. 147 in the rankings even if she had been just inside the top 100 to start 2023. A roller coaster).

Viktoriya Tomova (BUL): No. 98 =========> No. 79 (Tomova safely nestles herself into the main draw in Melbourne with a title at the $100K clay ITF in Valencia, Spain. She reached No. 71 as a career best earlier this year, but had dropped outside the top 100 this summer).

Bai Zhuoxuan (CHN): No. 106 =========> No. 86 (Another Chinese player, this one just 21, also nails down a spot in Melbourne with a title at the $100K ITF in Japan. She dropped just one set against a draw of all Japanese or Chinese players, and beat Yuan Yue in the final. Bai only even tried to qualify for a major for the first time at WImbledon this year. She made it, won a round and then lost to Ons Jabeur. She lost in the first round of qualifying at the US Open to Mai Hontama. But in Melbourne, she’ll be done with all that. Just before the pandemic, she peaked at No. 9 in the juniors after making the AO junior semis. She beat Linda Noskova and Diana Schnaider – both of whom have risen quickly – en route).

Jaqueline Cristian (ROU): No. 101 =========> No. 91 (Another who took herself off the bubble, with a a run to the final of the $100K in Valencia on clay. After playing with a protected ranking of No. 65 for a lot of 2023, she’s almost back where she was).

Brenda Fruhvirtova (CZE): No. 119 =========> No. 109 (The 16-year-old is almost catching up to older sister Linda, who dropped three spots to No. 93 in this week’s rankings. It’s a career high after she won the $40K ITF in Guadalajara to improve her record on the year to 49-9, mostly at the lower levels. She barely broke a sweat: 10 sets, three bagels, four baguettes and only once did she even drop three games. She also didn’t face anyone in the top 300. Fruhvirtova’s pro record now is at 101-19. It will be interesting to see how she goes when she’s faced with a much better level of competition week in and week out).

Renata Zarazua (MEX): No. 151 =========> No. 135 (Zarazua made the semis at the WTA 125 in Florianopolis, getting her to within 20 of her career high set in 2021. That semifinal lost was her 85th match of the year; she’s gone 55-30. And that’s a lot of tennis. A year ago, she was down to No. 350, so that’s a nice bounce back).

Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS): No. 543 =========> No. 282 (Tomljanovic cut her ranking in half after winning that WTA 125 in Florionopolis. She should be fine during the Aussie summer with wild cards, which should allow her to quickly get back up to where she was before the NetFlix Break Point curse hit with a vengeance this season, costing her most of it).

Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva (AND): No. 384 =========> No. 315 (Still just 18, Jimenez Kasintseva was the No. 1 junior in the world on the day the pandemic hit tennis – March 9, 2020. She was still just 14 1/2, and already the Australian Open junior champion. But it was a lot, very, very early. She played a ton of tennis at a very young age and was even playing juniors as late as 2022, while she was already starting her pro career. Having watched her a few times in the last year and a half, the eagerness was definitely not there. But she reached a career high of No. 121 on the WTA Tour exactly a year ago; since then, it’s been a struggle although she turned it up and won a $25K in Texas two weeks ago. She gets to play in her homeland this week – in Andorra. Sadly for her, she drew No. 2 seed Clara Tauson in the first round. Last year, she drew No. 3 seed Tatjana Maria. Not much draw luck).

ON THE DOWNSWING

Alycia Parks (USA): No. 46 =========> No. 50 (It appears Parks called it a year after losing to Zarazua in the second round of an ITF in Charleston two weeks ago – after winning the first set 6-0. But this is just the first drop in her ranking, as she played a lot at the end of the 2022 season and did extremely well. This drop comes from a semifinal run at the ITF in Valencia a year ago. But she won the Andorra 125 a year ago. And she also won the 125 in Angers, France the second week of December. That’s 160 more points that will disappear in the next few weeks and her ranking should drop to about No. 65.  That’s not a huge up from where she began 2023 – at No. 78. But lots to learn from, and some $772,000 in the coffers, too).

Diana Shnaider (RUS): No. 65 =========> No. 89 (After getting to a career high of 60 a month ago, Shnaider has continued to play everything she can, including the WTA 125s on clay in South America the last two weeks. But her second-round loss to No. 181 Carole Monnet in Florianopolis didn’t offset her title at a similar tournament in Montevideo a year ago, and so she drops. She has an opportunity to make that up this week in Argentina).

Kateryna Baindl (UKR): No. 111 =========> No. 125 (Baindl appears to have called it a season after not doing a ton of winning since reaching the final at the WTA 250 in Budapest after Wimbledon. Her last match was a first-round loss to Ekaterina Makarova in Cluj-Napoca more than a month ago. So she’s been dropping some points from last year’s WTA 125 season, including a semi from Montevideo last year. She has a few more to drop from the Andorra Challenger this week).

Marina Bassols Ribera (ESP): No. 112 =========> No. 145 (Bassols Ribera hit a career high of No. 110 in late September, but hasn’t played at all since the end of October – part of that was being part of the Spanish BJK Cup team, which is a nice piece of cash for a player who was on the bench. But didn’t really allow her to defend some of her points. She won the $80K ITF in Valencia a year ago).

THE CANADIANS

THE RACE TO THE AO MAIN DRAW

Sara Errani, Dayana Yastremska and Rebecca Peterson are among those in action at the WTA 125 level this week, trying to scratch for those final spots.

Andreescu looks … safe-ish. But will she even play? Radio silence.

WTA Rankings Report – As of Nov. 20, 2023

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