It’s the home stretch of the Hologic WTA Tour season, but there’s still no shortage of shakeups and milestones in the latest edition of the PIF WTA Rankings.

Last week’s champion at the Ningbo WTA 500 event, Elena Rybakina, and semifinalist Jasmine Paolini, both move up two places — Paolini from No. 8 to No. 6 and Rybakina from No. 9 to No. 7. Paolini has guaranteed her place at the WTA Finals Riyadh, while Rybakina’s title means that she can still potentially take the last spot with a strong run in Tokyo this week.

Meanwhile at the Osaka WTA 250 event, Leylah Fernandez claimed her fifth career title and a five-spot bump from No. 27 to No. 22. Already the Washington champion in July, this marks the first time that the Canadian has won multiple trophies in one season.

The largest jump within the Top 100 goes to Osaka runner-up Tereza Valentova, who is up 21 places from No. 78 to a new career high of No. 57. The 18-year-old, who had to qualify for the tournament, was contesting just her fourth WTA main draw. The other three? A semifinal run at Prague as a wild card and making the second round as a qualifier in her first two Grand Slam main draws at Roland Garros and the US Open.

Valentova’s smooth transition through the levels can be seen in a breakdown of her win-loss record.

Between January and May, she compiled a 20-6 record in ITF events, including two ITF W75 titles;
Since May, she has competed at WTA and WTA 125 level, compiling a 29-6 record (including an unbeaten 10-0 record in WTA 125 events).

Valentova, who ended 2024 ranked No. 261, is the third 2007-born player to reach a WTA final following Mirra Andreeva and Iva Jovic.

Semenistaja makes Top 100 debut

Darja Semenistaja has become the 26th player to crack the Top 100 for the first time in 2025 — and the 23-year-old did it in style with a title run at the Les Franqueses del Vallès ITF W100 event, bumping her up nine spots from No. 101 to No. 90. Semenistaja becomes the fourth player representing Latvia to be ranked in the Top 100, following Larisa Neiland, Anastasija Sevastova and Jelena Ostapenko.

Semenistaja has thrived in Catalonia, Spain this year — as well as winning in Les Franqueses del Vallès last week, she won her second career WTA 125 title in La Bisbal d’Empordà in April. She also qualified for her first Grand Slam main draw at the US Open and has compiled a 52-30 record in 2025.

WTA 125 titles boost Tjen, Waltert, Vandewinkel

Two of this month’s brand new Top 100 players have consolidated their positions with their first WTA 125 titles.

Both Janice Tjen and Simona Waltert cracked the Top 100 two weeks ago, but Tjen has wasted no time climbing further. Last week, she captured the Jinan WTA 125 title, adding it to a season already stacked with six ITF trophies — a run highlighted by saving two match points in a semifinal win over Lulu Sun.

The Indonesian rises another 18 spots, from No. 98 to No. 80, and extends her 2025 record to 72–16. Remarkably, Tjen has reached finals at every professional level up to WTA 250 this season. Her haul includes one ITF W50 title, four W35s and one W15, plus runner-up finishes at ITF W35, W75 and W100 events. In September, she also reached her first WTA 250 final in Sao Paulo.

Waltert, who reached her second tour-level quarterfinal in July in Iasi, has been in strong form since the US Open. The Swiss 24-year-old’s record since the start of September is 18-3, including her first WTA 125 final in Ljubljana, the Lisbon ITF W100 title and, last week, the Rio de Janeiro WTA 125 title. Waltert moves up nice places from No. 97 to No. 88.

Belgium’s Hanne Vandewinkel also claimed her first WTA 125 title last week. The 21-year-old dropped no sets and just 22 games overall en route to the Tampico trophy. She climbs 25 places to a new career high of No. 138. Vandewinkel is yet to contest a tour-level main draw, though she did stretch Emma Navarro to three sets in the 2024 Billie Jean King Cup Qualifiers and reached the final round of US Open qualifying this year.

Other notable rankings movements

Sorana Cirstea, +6 to No. 45: After undergoing foot surgery in 2024 and being sidelined for six months, former No. 21 Cirstea fell as low as No. 169 this June. But she reached her third semifinal of the year last week in Osaka and is back in the Top 50 for the first time since September 2024.

Anna Bondar, +12 to No. 78: Bondar was runner-up at the Jinan WTA 125 event last week — her fourth final of 2025. (The Hungarian won the Wiesbaden ITF W100 in April, and was also runner-up at the Bari WTA 125 and Hamburg WTA 250.)

Ajla Tomljanovic, +15 to No. 89: Tomljanovic qualified for Ningbo, then posted her best results in over three years — upsetting Clara Tauson (her first Top 20 win since Cincinnati 2022) along the way to the quarterfinals (her first above WTA 250 level since the US Open 2022).

Yuliia Starodubtseva, +19 to No. 112: Starodubtseva qualified and reached the second round of Ningbo, where she pushed Belinda Bencic all the way in the longest tour-level match of 2025 so far.

Maria Timofeeva, +18 to No. 146: Timofeeva, the 2023 Budapest champion, won the Quinta do Lago ITF W75 title last week — her second trophy on Portugese soil this year following her triumph at July’s Figueira da Foz ITF W100. Timofeeva, 21, now represents Uzbekistan.

Linda Klimovicova, +20 to No. 148: Since July, Klimovicova has compiled a 14-3 record encompassing the Vitoria-Gasteiz ITF W75 title, a run to the final round of US Open qualifying, a semifinal showing at the Samsun WTA 125 and, last week, a run to the Les Franqueses del Vallès final. The 21-year-old Pole enters the Top 150 for the first time.

Zhu Lin, +48 to No. 171: Former No. 31 Zhu was sidelined for six months in 2024 and another three this year as she battled an elbow injury. The 31-year-old upset Mirra Andreeva in Ningbo last week — her third Top 10 win — to reach her first tour-level quarterfinal since Hua Hin in January 2024.

Cadence Brace, +20 to No. 183: The 20-year-old Canadian reached her first WTA 125 final last week in Tampico, and cracks the Top 200 for the first time.

Manon Leonard, +26 to No. 193: Leonard is on a 10-match winning streak encompassing titles in the last two weeks at the Monastir ITF W15 and Cherbourg-en-Cotentin ITF W50.

Alice Rame, +46 to No. 211: Rame reached her first WTA 125 final last week in Rio de Janeiro. The 27-year-old Frenchwoman, who plays with a one-handed backhand, climbs to a new career high.

Carol Young Suh Lee, +18 to No. 217: The Northern Mariana Islands-born American continued her winning ways by capturing her fifth ITF title of the year at the Kunshan ITF W35 two weeks ago. Georgia Tech University graduate Lee, 23, has compiled a 76-19 record in 2025; she was unranked at the end of 2024.

Alexis Blokhina, +95 to No. 350: Stanford University alumna Blokhina, 21, reached the Quinta do Lago ITF W75 final as a qualifier last week.

Francesca Pace, +134 to No. 489: Italian 20-year-old Pace captured her first ITF W35 title two weeks ago in Redding. Pace is the daughter of former World No. 7 Irina Spirlea.

Julie Pastikova, +193 to No. 585: The 17-year-old Czech won her first professional title two weeks ago as a qualifier at the Santa Margherita di Pula ITF W35, and rises to a new career high.

Nauhany Vitoria Leme Da Silva, +104 to No. 668: Last month, Leme Da Silva became the first 2010-born player to win a WTA main-draw match when she made the Sao Paulo second round. The 15-year-old backed that up with her first professional title two weeks ago at the Sao Joao da Boa Vista ITF W15.

 

 

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