Last week, two first-time champions on the Hologic WTA Tour were crowned. In Monterrey, 19-year-old Linda Noskova won the WTA 500 event, while McCartney Kessler walked away with the Cleveland 250 event as a wild card.

Noskova had lost both of her previous WTA finals, at Adelaide 1 and Prague in 2023, but delivered a clutch performance to win Monterrey without dropping a set (including tight victories in all three tiebreaks she contested). The Czech teenager started 2024 with a statement win over Iga Swiatek at the Australian Open en route to the quarterfinal. But a few months later, she suffered personal tragedy when her mother, Ivana, died of cancer ahead of Wimbledon.

Noskova's victory in Monterrey boosts her 10 places to a new career high of No.25.

University of Florida graduate Kessler had won only one tour-level match prior to Cleveland, which was only the seventh main draw of her career. But the 25-year-old American battled through four three-setters in five matches, including her first three Top 50 wins (over Wang Xinyu, Anastasia Potapova and Beatriz Haddad Maia). This time last year, Kessler was ranked No.365. She made her Top 100 debut two weeks ago after winning the Landisville ITF W100 and is now up another 35 spots to a new career high of No.63.

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Sun makes Top 50 debut

Monterrey runner-up Lulu Sun also continued an impressive breakthrough season to hit a new milestone. The Wimbledon quarterfinalist sustained her momentum to reach her first career WTA final. She climbs 16 places to make her Top 50 debut at No.41. Sun becomes the first New Zealander to be ranked inside the Top 50 since Marina Erakovic in February 2014 and just the third in the history of the PIF WTA Rankings following Erakovic and Belinda Cordwell.

Other notable rankings movements

Emma Navarro, +1 to No.12: Navarro reached her sixth tour-level semifinal of 2024 in Monterrey and climbs to a new career high. The American's season record is now 46-20 (40-19 in main draws).

Erika Andreeva, +14 to No.75: The 20-year-old sister of Roland Garros semifinalist Mirra Andreeva, Erika captured her own headlines in Monterrey after upsetting No.1 seed Danielle Collins in the second round to notch her first career Top 20 win. The result also put Erika into her first WTA quarterfinal and lifts her to a new career high.

Ana Bogdan, +12 to No.91: Between reaching the Cluj-Napoca final in February and last week, Bogdan won consecutive matches only once. By the end of July, she had fallen out of the Top 100. The Romanian reached the Cleveland quarterfinals as a qualifier to return to that echelon.

Noma Noha Akugue, +37 to No.211: The surprise 2023 Hamburg finalist struggled to back that result up over the following 12 months and fell to No.272 when those points fell off at the end of July. The 20-year-old German has been quietly rebuilding in August, posting a 12-3 record overall. Last week, that culminated in her second and biggest professional title at the Prerov ITF W75.

Tiantsoa Rakotomanga Rajaonah, +85 to No.410: The 18-year-old Frenchwoman captured her first ITF W50 title last week in Arequipa and moves to a new career high.

Kristina Dmitruk, +158 to No.475: Dmitruk, the 2021 US Open junior finalist, extended her winning streak to nine by reaching the Prerov ITF W75 final, where she fell to Noha Akugue. The 20-year-old reached a career high of No.216 in May 2023 but was sidelined for nine months between August that year and this April.

Mingge Xu, +101 to No.495: Former junior No.8 Xu, 16, captured her first pro title two weeks ago on home soil at the Aldershot ITF W35. The British teenager makes her Top 500 debut as a result.

Anna Frey, +185 to No.880: A 16-year-old wild card in Cleveland qualifying last week, Frey stunned Tamara Korpatsch in the first round to notch her first Top 200 win.