The final Grand Slam tournament of 2024 is in the books, with Aryna Sabalenka defeating Jessica Pegula in Saturday’s US Open final for her third major trophy.
Pegula leads a slew of Americans who delivered career-best major performances on home soil and have been boosted in this week’s edition of the PIF WTA Rankings. The 30-year-old Pegula enjoyed a spectacular North American hard-court summer, going 15-2 after winning Toronto and finishing as the runner-up to Sabalenka in Cincinnati and Flushing Meadows.
Pegula climbs three places from No.6 to return to her career high of No.3. She swaps places with Coco Gauff, who fell in the fourth round of the US Open as defending champion to Emma Navarro.
Navarro, who went on to reach her first Slam semifinal, notches a significant milestone as she climbs four places to make her Top 10 debut at No.8. The 23-year-old only cracked the Top 100 in May last year and started 2024 at No.32. She has compiled a 51-21 record this season (45-20 in WTA main draws), also including her first Hologic WTA Tour title in Hobart, a run to the Wimbledon quarterfinals and semifinal showings in Auckland, San Diego, Bad Homburg, Toronto and Monterrey.
The next generation of Americans also began to make noise in the early stages of the US Open. Ashlyn Krueger, 20, upset Mirra Andreeva to reach the third round of a Slam for the first time and rises eight places to a new career high of No.51.
Iva Jovic, 16, the youngest player in the main draw, made good use of her wild card to notch her first career Top 50 win, over Magda Linette, before stretching Ekaterina Alexandrova to three sets in the second round. Jovic, who went on to reach the semifinals of the junior event, rockets up 99 places to No.290.
Julieta Pareja, 15, was the story of the qualifying tournament. The Californian teenager, playing just her sixth pro event, upset Kayla Day and Lucrezia Stefanini to reach the final round of the preliminaries. Pareja, who won her first pro title at the Ranco Santa Fe ITF W15 in June, soars 266 places to No.700. She is the second-highest ranked player born in 2009, following No.514-ranked Briton Hannah Klugman.
Katerina Siniakova has returned to World No.1 in the doubles after reaching the US Open semifinals with Taylor Townsend. Siniakova was the champion at both Roland Garros (with Coco Gauff) and Wimbledon (with Townsend) this year, and this will be her fifth stint at the summit. Siniakova first ascended to No.1 in January 2019 and returns to the top spot for the first time since September of last year.
Two first-time US Open quarterfinalists both return to the Top 20 this week. Beatriz Haddad Maia is up five to No.16, while Paula Badosa climbs nine to No.20.
For former No.10 Haddad Maia, the past three weeks marked a much-needed turnaround. A week before the US Open, her record was in the negative, at 20-21, and she had fallen out of the Top 20 in July. She responded by reaching her sixth career final in Cleveland, then defeating Anna Kalinskaya and Caroline Wozniacki to make the last eight in New York.
Badosa’s second career major quarterfinal was the culmination of a spectacular summer resurgence for the former No.2, who was sidelined by a back injury for the second half of 2023. The Spaniard was ranked as low as No.140 in mid-May. Since then, she has put together a 24-7 record which also includes the Washington title, Cincinnati semifinals and fourth-round runs in Rome and Wimbledon.
China’s Wang Yafan reached the fourth round of a major for the first time at the age of 30 via a third-round upset of Victoria Azarenka. Wang is up 18 places to No.62.
Two WTA 125 events took place last week as well, with Kamilla Rakhimova taking the title on hard courts in Guadalajara and Irina-Camelia Begu winning on clay in Montreux.
For Rakhimova, who had held triple set point on World No.1 Iga Swiatek in the first round of the US Open the week before, it was the biggest title of her career to date. The 23-year-old rises 15 places to No.89.
Former No.22 Begu was sidelined with an elbow injury for six months between last September and March this year. The 34-year-old Romanian has compiled a 23-10 record since returning, which also including a run to the Antalya WTA 125 final in March, the fourth round in Rome and the Palermo semifinals. Begu dropped just one set en route to the Montreux title and climbs 23 places to No.107.
Guadalajara runner-up Tatjana Maria rises 17 places to No.82 after reaching her second WTA 125 final of the season. Meanwhile, Montreux runner-up Petra Marcinko jumps 48 places to No.244. The 18-year-old former junior No.1 had struggled in 2024 after being sidelined between January and May and had won only six matches this year before Montreux. However, the Croatian is moving in the right direction again after reaching her first WTA 125 final.
Elina Avanesyan +1 to No.50: Though Avanesyan lost in the first round of the US Open to Haddad Maia, she nonetheless makes her Top 50 debut this week. The 21-year-old is the first Armenian to be ranked inside the Top 50.
Jessica Bouzas Maneiro +14 to No.60: For a second consecutive major, the 21-year-old Spaniard upset a seed en route to the third round. Bouzas Maneiro knocked out Katie Boulter in the second round and reaches a new career high.
Erika Andreeva +7 to No.68: Andreeva, 20, hits a new career high after reaching the US Open second round, where she took Olympic gold medalist Zheng Qinwen to three sets.
Naomi Osaka +13 to No.75: Former World No.1 Osaka ousted Jelena Ostapenko in a marquee US Open first-round tilt before falling to eventual semifinalist Karolina Muchova.
Sara Errani +20 to No.76: The 37-year-old former No.5 made the US Open third round for the first time since 2015 and returns to her highest ranking since June 2023.
Elena-Gabriela Ruse +22 to No.100: As a qualifier at the US Open, Ruse upset Wimbledon champion Barbora Krejcikova to reach the third round of a Slam for the first time. There, she held match point on Badosa before losing one of the best matches of the tournament. The 26-year-old Romanian returns to the Top 100 for the first time since July 2022.
Jessika Ponchet +39 to No.104: The French qualifier also reached the third round of a major for the first time thanks to Elena Rybakina’s withdrawal from the tournament. Ponchet, 26, reaches a new career high.
Maya Joint +24 to No.111: Last October, Joint was ranked No.1371. Since then, the 18-year-old Australian has been powering up the rankings at a steady pace. Joint qualified for her first tour-level main draw at the US Open, then upset Laura Siegemund to reach the second round — her 54th match-win of the season. She’s now at a new career high.
Varvara Lepchenko +40 to No.159: At the US Open, Lepchenko qualified and reached the second round of a Slam for the first time since Roland Garros 2021. The 38-year-old American is the oldest player in the Top 300.
Ena Shibahara +48 to No.169: Former doubles No.4 Shibahara’s focus on singles in 2024 paid off at the US Open, where she qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw and defeated Daria Saville to make the second round. The Japanese 26-year-old, who was the last direct acceptance to the qualifying draw, started the year at No.548 and makes her Top 200 debut this week.
Gao Xinyu +53 to No.185: The Chinese 26-year-old reached the biggest final of her career to date at last week’s Incheon ITF W100.
Sinja Kraus +43 to No.224: Kraus put together a 10-match winning streak on German clay with back-to-back titles at the Braunschweig ITF W35 and Meerbusch ITF W50 two weeks ago. The 22-year-old Austrian set her career high of No.151 in May 2023.
Lola Radivojevic +41 to No.232: The 19-year-old Serb has won 15 of her past 18 matches over the past month, backing up the Kursumlijska Banja ITF W75 title with finals at the Vrnjacka Banja ITF W35 and Meerbusch ITF W50, then a quarterfinal run at last week’s Vienna ITF W75. Radivojevic reaches a new career high this week.
Tatiana Prozorova +71 to No.263: This time last year, Prozorova qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the US Open and broke the Top 200 a few weeks later. By this July, though, she had fallen to No.421. The 20-year-old captured her biggest career title last week at the Incheon ITF W100 to kickstart a resurgence.
Sada Nahimana +96 to No.308: The Burundian captured the biggest title of her career — and of her country’s tennis history — at last week’s Slobozia ITF W50. Nahimana, 23, reached her career high of No.244 in April 2023.
Usue Maitane Arconada +193 to No.641: Between February 2022 and March 2024, former No.130 Arconada played just one tournament because of an injury. On returning, the 25-year-old American won only three of her first 14 matches. But the former junior No.5 made it to the last round of US Open qualifying for a much-needed boost.
Ana Konjuh +387 to No.728: Former No.20 Konjuh is also on the comeback trail once again. The Croatian did not play between July 2023 and March 2024, and the US Open was just the fifth tournament of her season. Konjuh defeated Miriam Bulgaru and Julia Riera to reach the final round of qualifying.
