Last week, Sara Errani became the inaugural winner of the Oracle Challenger Series Indian Wells 125K, coming all the way through qualifying to win seven matches and wind up with the trophy - and the former Roland Garros finalist has been rewarded with a return to the Top 100.
On her return to competition last October, the Italian was ranked No.280. Since then, Errani has compiled a 29-9 record, starting with a semifinal in Tianjin followed by an ITF $60,000 title in Zhuhai.
This year, the former World No.5 fell in the final qualifying round of the Australian Open to Luksika Kumkhum - but kicked off her resurgence in form in February with her heroics in Fed Cup competition. With the Italian team down 0-1 to Spain at home in Chieti, Errani won both of her singles rubbers over Lara Arruabarrena and Carla Suárez Navarro to pave the way to a 3-2 tie victory.
Read more: Errani bests Bondarenko to capture Indian Wells 125K
A run in Dubai from qualifying to the second round was next, and Errani maintained her hard court form last week in Indian Wells to seal her biggest title since capturing her first Premier crown in Dubai in February 2016.
Here are some of this week's most notable ranking movers:
Kateryna Bondarenko (+10, No.84 to No.74): The second highest-ranked mother on tour following Tatjana Maria at No.56, Bondarenko has quietly put together an excellent run of form over the past six months. Having fallen to No.133 last September, the former World No.29 responded by capturing her second career title in Tashkent. This year, she's backed that up with a third-round showing at the Australian Open (including her 20th career Top 20 victory over Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova) and, last week, a run to the Indian Wells 125K final where she fell to Sara Errani. The Ukrainian's reward is her highest position since January 2017, 18 spots off the best ranking of her post-maternity career - No.56, set in July 2016.
Veronica Cepede Royg (+7, No.83 to No.75): The Paraguayan No.1 scored the fifth WTA quarterfinal of her career last week in Acapulco, notching up wins over Belinda Bencic and Irina-Camelia Begu on the way. The result puts the 26-year-old, who also reached the fourth round of Roland Garros last year, just two spots off her career high ranking. In her sights is the best position ever achieved by a Paraguayan woman - No.51, set by Rossana de los Ríos in November 2001.
Sara Errani (+32, No.125 to No.93): The Italian put together a spectacular run last week, coming through qualifying to win seven matches and capture the Indian Wells 125K title. Along the way, the former World No.5 was a one-woman wrecking ball to home hopes, defeating six consecutive Americans - Danielle Lao, Claire Liu, Jennifer Brady, Kristie Ahn, Danielle Collins and Amanda Anisimova - before sealing her return to the Top 100 with victory over Kateryna Bondarenko in the final.
Sachia Vickery (+1, No.101 to No.100): The American No.11 may have lost in the first round of the Indian Wells 125K to Sofia Kenin last week, but her strong form over the past six months has been enough for her to make her Top 100 debut this week. Having compiled a disappointing 12-17 win-loss record coming into last year's North American hard court swing, Vickery turned her fortunes around by qualifying for and winning a round at the US Open, reaching the Québec City quarterfinals and capturing the biggest title of her career to date at the ITF $60,000 event in Templeton, California in October. This year, the 22-year-old built on those results by making her maiden WTA semifinal off the bat in Auckland - including the second Top 30 victory of her career, a shock 6-2, 6-2 defeat of Agnieszka Radwanska in the quarterfinals. Vickery is the second Top 100 debutante of 2018 so far following Ana Bogdan, who broke the barrier in January.
Rebecca Peterson (+20, No.139 to No.119): The Swedish No.2 came through qualifying in Acapulco last week to make her maiden WTA semifinal, including her first two Top 40 wins over World No.39 Alizé Cornet and World No.33 Zhang Shuai. Back in 2016, a 20-year-old Peterson had reached a career high of No.119 before a shoulder injury forced her on to the sidelines for seven months, and by September last year she had sunk to No.227. On her return, though, Peterson qualified for her maiden Grand Slam at the US Open and reached the Guangzhou quarterfinals - and this week's milestone sees her match her career high, with no points to defend until June.
Stefanie Voegele (+56, No.183 to No.127): Last week saw Voegele smash a long-awaited milestone, breaking a 0-8 record in WTA semifinals stretching back to 2009 to reach her maiden final in Acapulco. The Swiss player, who defeated US Open champion Sloane Stephens in the quarterfinals but fell to defending champion Lesia Tsurenko in the title round, is on the way back from a wrist injury that kept her out of the game for six months last year and sent her ranking spiralling down to No.205 in August. A former World No.42, Voegele now has no points to defend until August, and will be targeting a return to the Top 100 for the first time since October 2016.
Amanda Anisimova (+26, No.175 to No.149): The youngest player in the Top 150, 16-year-old Anisimova has hit a new career high following her run to the Indian Wells 125K semifinals as a qualifier. The American, who rocketed from No.764 to No.192 over the course of 2017, defeated two former Top 100 players in Naomi Broady and Nicole Gibbs en route to her first 125K semifinal. Only one player in the Top 400 is younger than Anisimova - 15-year-old Marta Kostyuk at No.185.
Click here for more WTA Rankings from the week of March 5, 2018.
