Two tournaments – a WTA 500 in Ningbo, China and a WTA 250 in Osaka – provided some surprising results.
And along the way, Jasmine Paolini officially qualified for the WTA Finals by reaching the semifinals, and Elena Rybakina all but assured herself of same.
There were plenty of smaller events – three at the WTA 125 level alone – and good-quality ITFs.
And there are a lot of players who reached new career highs this week.
Jasmine Paolini (ITA): No. 8 ===========> No. 6 (Paolini secured her spot in the WTA Finals by making the semifinals in Ningbo, where she lost to Elena Rybakina. And so she’s out of Tokyo this week. No need).
Elena Rybakina (KAZ): No. 9 ===========> No. 7 (Ningbo champion Rybakina is as high in the rankings as she’s been since right after the Australian Open in January. She’s 51-19 on the season which, considering she’s not gotten that much positive bandwidth, is quite good. If she does anything at all in Tokyo, she would pass Mirra Andreeva and secure her spot in the WTA Finals).
Instead of blowing kisses to the four sides of the court, Fernandez did it Janapese style – bowing.
Leylah Fernandez (CAN): No. 27 ===========> No. 22 (Fernandez’s title in Osaka squeezes her past Victoria Mboko and installs her back in her longtime spot as the No. 1 Canadian. That was her fifth crown. Originally, she was to play Victoria Mboko in Tokyo but after Paolini’s withdrawal and moving the seeds around, she ends up against a qualifier. But that qualifier is Maria Sakkari).
Jaqueline Cristian (ROU): No. 47 ===========> No. 42 (After making the Osaka semifinals, Cristian is within one of her career high).
Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 51 ===========> No. 46 (If it seemed like Cirstea, who has been out there for 20 years even if she’s still only 35, was close to done, she had other ideas. She made the semis in Osaka, taking eventual champion Fernandez to three sets, and is back into the top 50 for the first time since Aug. 2024. Just four months ago, she was at No. 169).
Tereza Valentova (CZE): No. 78 ===========> No. 57 (What a revelation the 18-year-old was in Osaka, in her first career WTA final. She started off slowly, was distraught, gathered herself, showed precocious variety and managed to beam when it was all over and she had to endure the trophy ceremony. No trophy for her first final, apparently; hopefully whatever was in the box was good. Valentova was ranked No. 241 at the start of 2025).
Zeynep Sonmez (TUR): No. 76 ===========> No. 69 (Honestly, we didn’t think this 23-year-old was going to get this far – based mostly on the technique on her serve until fairly recently. But she appears to have done a lot of straightening out there. And after qualifying and winning a round in Ningbo she’s at another career high).
Renata Zarazua (MEX): No. 82 ===========> No. 73 (Zarazua wins the $100K ITF in Macon, Georgia – which she played over a WTA 125 in her homeland – and makes a nice move).
Ajla Tomljanovic (AUS): No. 104 ===========> No. 89 (It’s been a tough one for 32-year-old Tomljanovic. But she showed signs of life last week by qualifying and getting to the Ningbo quarterfinals, got back into the top 100 and shouldn’t have to rely on the kindness of the Aussie federation to get straight into the AO in January).
Hanne Vandewinkel (BEL): No. 163 ===========> No. 138 (The 21-year-old Belgian has plenty of hopes on her shoulders, with the Belgian men doing some nice things. She’s a 21-year-old former top-20 junior who won the WTA 125 in Tampico this week, to move to a new career high and into the top 150 for the first time).
Zhu Lin (CHN): No. 219 ===========> No. 171 (Zhu has been scraping by on a protected ranking for the last many months. But it’s finally starting to click in a little. She moves back into the top 200 for the first time since January with a quarterfinal effort in Ningbo).
(Photo: Abierto de Tampico)
Cadence Brace (CAN): No. 203 ===========> No. 182 (Brace, 20, breaks into the top 200 for the first time after making the final at the WTA 125 in Tampico – by far the biggest run of her young career. By day, she’s going back to Louisiana State University, where she began last year a little later than most).
Mirra Andreeva (RUS): No. 6 ===========> No. 9 (Even as everything seemed so easy for 17-year-old Andreeva last year, when she won big titles and got to a career high of No. 5, so has it seemed arduous in recent months. There have been tears, and surprise losses. And with logistics precluding her taking a wild card into Tokyo this week – assuming she was up to making a run – she has to hope that Rybakina doesn’t do anything. Or that Madison Keys doesn’t come back after a long break to play in Riyadh. At any rate, the way it’s going, you wouldn’t think she’d do much in the Tour Finals beyond picking up some nice coin).
Paula Badosa (ESP): No. 23 ===========> No. 26 (Badosa’s star-crossed year has dropped her out of the top 25. And even she doesn’t know if and when she’ll be fully healthy to give it another run. In the meantime, she’s getting her yayas out with her bestie Aryna Sabalenka in Dubai. Which sounds like good therapy).
Daria Kasatkina (AUS): No. 22 ===========> No. 35 (Another one who ended her season long before the end, Kasatkina had points on the table from last year’s Asia swing that are tumbling off now. This is her lowest ranking since June, 2021. She began the season ranked No. 9).
Beatriz Haddad Maia (BRA): No. 52 ===========> No. 60 Another who pulled the ripcord on her season after the first week in Asia, She had a shot, with Laura Siegemund, to make the WTA finals in doubles, too. So she must have been in a bad way. She was in the top 20 as recently as mid-August).
Sonay Kartal (GBR): No. 58 ===========> No. 68 (Kartal got to a career high in July. But she did’t play last week, and so drops her points from winning a $10K ITF in Shrewsbury last year. She’s defending another at a $60K in Hamburg in a week’s time).
Yulia Putintseva (KAZ): No. 69 ===========> No. 76 (Putintseva qualified in Ningbo, but was ousted in the first round. She drops points form a quarterfinal effort a year ago. At the start of 2025, she was in the top 30).
Suzan Lamens (NED): No. 57 ===========> No. 86 (Lamens’s ranking shows what happens when you, perhaps unexpectedly, win a WTA event – the first of your career. She did that from qualifying, too. And then, a year later, when you don’t defend – that little honeymoon period ends. She’s buffered that some in the interim, though; before Osaka last year, she was at No. 125).
Aoi Ito (JPN): No. 92 ===========> No. 111 (Ito, who made a lot of new fans this summer with her quirky style and leaped into the top 100, hasn’t played since losing in the final round of the US Open qualifying to Janice Tjen. We watched that one, and suspect this has a lot to do with the big back brace she was wearing under her shirt. Hopefully she’s back healthy for 2026).
Kimberly Birrell (AUS): No. 89 ===========> No. 114 (At 27, and so many years ranked between 100 and 200, Birrell suddenly burst through and got to a career-best No. 60 in early May. But it’s been a tough go since a decent grass-court season. She lost in the first round in D.C., the first round in Montreal (to eventual champ Victoria Mboko), the second round at Cincinnati, and the first round in Cleveland, the US Open, Beijing and the Suzhou 125. She also lost in qualifying in her last three tournaments. So the jump to being a full-time WTA player is a work in progress).
