During the final week of the Hologic WTA Tour clay season before the start of Roland Garros, an all-American sweep unfolded. In Strasbourg, Madison Keys won her eighth career title, while Peyton Stearns captured Rabat for her first.
Keys defeated compatriot Danielle Collins in the Strasbourg 500 final -- the first all-American final since Adelaide (250) in 2022, when Keys defeated Alison Riske-Amritraj for the title, and the first on red clay since Serena Williams beat Keys in Rome eight years ago.
Collins' third final of the season improves her record to 36-10 overall (32-10 in main draws). The 30-year-old climbs two places to No.10, returning to the Top 10 for the first time since July 2022. Meanwhile, Keys is up four places to No.12, her highest ranking since December.
Stearns turns season around in Rabat
For Stearns, her title run was defined by comebacks. She rallied from a set and a break down against Aleksandra Krunic in the first round, fought back from 5-0 down with two match points against Lucia Bronzetti in the quarterfinals and, in the semifinals, made her way back from a 4-1 deficit in the third set against Viktoriya Tomova.
The week also reversed the trajectory of Stearns' year. She started 2024 in the Top 50, but the 22-year-old had slumped to No.87 last month after losing 10 of her first 13 matches of the season. However, her breakthrough in Rabat 250 helped her rise 19 places to No.62.
Other notable rankings movements
Anhelina Kalinina (+8, No.56 to No.48): One week after falling out of the Top 50, Kalinina has rebounded. The Ukrainian was a semifinalist in Strasbourg, notching her fifth career Top 10 win, over Marketa Vondrousova, in the quarterfinals.
Mayar Sherif (+13, No.66 to No.53): Like Stearns, Rabat runner-up Sherif has turned her fortunes around on clay. She lost her first five WTA main-draw matches of 2024, the past five weeks have seen the Egyptian reach the third round of both Madrid and Rome, two WTA 125 finals in Lleida and Parma and last week her third career WTA 250 final in Rabat.
Viktoriya Tomova (+9, No.84 to No.75): The Bulgarian reached her third career WTA semifinal and first since 2021, in Rabat. She's nine places off the career high of No.64 that she set in February.
Kamilla Rakhimova (+18, No.105 to No.87): Rakhimova reached her fourth career WTA semifinal and first outside Bogota in Rabat last week. She returns to the Top 100 one week after dropping outside it.
Kathinka Von Deichmann (+33, No.274 to No.241) and Francesca Jones (+36, No.295 to No.259): Great Britain's Jones defeated Liechtenstein's Von Deichmann in the Grado ITF W75 final last week. Due to the WTA rankings being updated ahead of Roland Garros, before the Grado final was played, both have received finalist points; Jones's champion points will be updated in the next edition of the rankings.
