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This week was “last chance” week for the women around the top 100, as the entry deadline for the Roland Garros main draw is Monday.
So players were scrambling to try to get inside the top 100 and virtually guarantee – depending on the amount of protected rankings – direct entry.
Here’s what that area of the rankings looked like last week:
Potapova, Galfi and Vekic did themselves some good in Linz.
Here’s what it looks like now.
As you can see, a few players put themselvse on the bubble, including Jones, Erjavec and Sherif.
Mirra Andreeva (RUS): No. 10 ============> No. 9
(Andreeva, who is still only 18 – feels like she’s been around awhile – leaps over Canadian Victoria Mboko and into the No. 9 spot with her title in Linz).
Sorana Cirstea (ROU): No. 29 ============> No. 26
(Another good effort from the 36-year-old Cirstea, who moves up three with her quarterfinal effort in Linz. She’s only five spots and about 350 points from her career high – reached all the way back in Aug. 2013 – as she rolls through her final season on a high. She also takes the doubles with first-time partner Zhang Shuai; as it happens, as they were talking about playing together in Miami, the Linz draw came out and they ended up meeting in the first round of singles).
Anastasia Potapova (AUT): No. 97 ============> No. 54
(Potapova has done wonders for her falling ranking by making the final/winning in Linz, as a newly-minted Austrian via Moscow. She no longer has to sweat getting straight into Roland Garros and Wimbledon, although it didn’t happen quickly enough for her to avoid qualifying in Madrid and Rome).
Elena-Gabriela Ruse (ROU): No. 87 ============> No. 61
(A solid mid-level player for many years, Ruse’s career high was No. 51 back in May, 2023. Her run to the Linz semifinals moves her up from the low 80s).
Donna Vekic (CRO): No. 104 ============> No. 67
(The 29-year-old former No. 17 has been doing a lot of qualifying these days. But it paid off in Linz as she ran all the way to the semifinals and avoids having to do that at Roland Garros).
Dalma Galfi (HUN): No. 103 ============> No. 93
(Galfi squeezed herself into the Roland main draw just by winning. round in Linz. But she was injured and retired down 0-5 to Cirstea in the second round)
Lilli Tagger (AUT): No. 117 ============> No. 97
(The 18-year-old leaps into the top 100 for the first time with an impressive performance to reach the quarterfinals in Linz. She wowed her local crowd before going down to new Austrian Potapova, and will be a formidable opponent for whomever she meets in the first round in Paris).
Karolina Pliskova (CZE): No. 258 ============> No. 197
(Pliskova, 34, has played sparingly in her return to action after missing a year from the 2024 US Open, but can count on top-20 wild cards and a protected ranking for awhile. She moves her actual ranking back into the top 200 with a quarterfinal effort in Linz, after not having played since Doha in February).
Katherine Sebov (CAN): No. 242 ============> No. 212
(The Canadian declined a late invite to play BJK Cup in Kazakhstan, as she was trying to get her ranking up to get into the Roland Garros qualifying. It appears she’s done that, with a run to the final at an ITF in Calvi).
Elina Avanesyan (ARM): No. 367 ============> No. 325
(The 23-year-old Russian-turned-Armenian lost a lot of time to injury after getting to a career high of No. 36 just a year ago. She played just one match from last year’s US Open to Ostava in early February. But she gets back a chunk of that by going from the qualifying to the quarterfinal at the WTA 125 in Madrid).
Sloane Stephens (USA): No. 552 ============> No. 401
(Another veteran and former Grand Slam champion who can count on some wild cards, the 33-year-old former US Open champion moves up 150 spots just by winning a first-round match in Linz. She has another wild card in Rouen this week).
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Lilli Tagger (AUT) (No. 97)
Lisa Pigato (ITA) (No. 154)
Luisina Giovannini (ARG) (No. 187)
Ane Mintegi Del Olmo (ESP) (No. 252)
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Victoria Mboko (CAN): No. 9 ============> No. 10
(Mboko was idle last week because of a wisdom-teeth extraction. But she would have been playing BJK Cup anyway. So with her title in Linz, her occasional doubles partner Mirra Andreeva jumps over her and into the No. 9 spot).
Loïs Boisson (FRA): No. 40 ============> No. 44
(It’s been a strange ride for 2025 Roland Garros semifinalist Boisson, who has barely played since. That her ranking has sort of maintained is mostly due to the fact that she wasn’t defending anything. But she planned to be back by now. And she still isn’t back from a right forearm injury suffered during the offseason, after a left adductor injury and a quadriceps tear last fall).
Anastasia Zakharova (RUS): No. 65 ============> No. 76
(The 24-year-old Russian’s career high last week was short lived as she drops point from winning a W100 ITF in Zaragoza, Spain, not having played last week).
Solana Sierra (ARG): No. 78 ============> No. 90
(Sierra won an ITF in Bellinzona, Switzerland a year ago but didn’t play last week, and didn’t play for Argentina in the BJK Cup promotion playoffs).
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