WTA Ranking Watch: First-time title winners Collins, Zanevska climb

Last week, the WTA Tour visited Italy for the 32nd Palermo Ladies Open and Gdynia for the BNP Paribas Poland Open as the two WTA 250-level tournaments produced first-time winners. 

First Time Title Winners Climb

American Danielle Collins captured her first WTA singles title.  As the top seed in Palermo last week, she won without dropping a set. By winning the title, Collins ranking improved nine spots, moving from No.44 to No.35.

In addition, Maryna Zanevska joined the first-time winners club. She won her first singles title last week at Gdynia. Entering the tournament ranked No.165, Zanevska became the fourth player ranked outside the Top 150 to win a title this year, joining Elena-Gabriela Ruse (No.198 at Hamburg), Maria Camila Osorio Serrano (No.180 at Bogota) and Astra Sharma (No.165 at Charleston 250).

Zanevska jumped 50 spots in the WTA Rankings as she climbed from No.165 to No.115, closing in on her career-best ranking of No.105, which she first achieved on August 21, 2017.

Romania’s Ruse Continues to Rise

Just over one week after winning her first career title, Elena-Gabriela Ruse returned to action in qualifying in Palermo, a WTA 250 tournament. Ruse earned as spot in the main draw and advanced to her second career singles final, where she fell short against Collins.  After holding a ranking of No.198 at the beginning of the month, Ruse has reached back-to-back finals at WTA 250-level tournaments as her ranking has sky-rocketed to a career-best No.105.

Top 200 Debut For Bondar

Anna Bondar, of Hungary, makes her Top 200 debut this week after climbing 34 spots (from No.231 to No.197). The 24-year-old advanced to the quarterfinals in Gdynia as a qualifier, her second career quarterfinal appearance at a tour-level event.

Other Notable Ranking Movement

--Playing in her 121st main draw at the tour-level, Kristina Kucova made her finals debut as she reached the championship match in Gdynia. Kucova moved up 30 spots to No.120, her highest ranking since July 2017.

--Only one month after making her WTA Rankings debut, Sara Bejlek of the Czech Republic moved to No.447 in this week’s rankings. At 15 years, 176 days old, Bejlek becomes the youngest player currently ranked in the Top 500 after winning the title at an ITF women’s circuit event staged at Olomouc, Czech Republic. Bejlek defeated world Francesca Jones in the semifinals and topped Paula Ormaechea 6-0, 6-0 in the final.

Race update

By winning the title in Palermo, Collins moved up 13 spots, to No.29, in the latest Porsche Race to Shenzhen Leaderboard, reflecting the most notable movement among the Top 50.

The only other movement among Top 50 was Jil Teichmann, who moved up one spot to No.46.