Donna Vekic and Eva Lys headline career-high WTA Rankings milestones

The conclusion of the Australian Open not only crowned Madison Keys as the women’s champion but also saw several players achieve their career-best rankings, including Donna Vekic, Yulia Putintseva, and others breaking into the top 100 for the first time.

One of the most notable stories was that of Germany’s Eva Lys, who entered the main draw as a lucky loser and delivered her best-ever performance at a major, reaching the 4th round. This earned her 240 points and a jump of 37 places to her career-high ranking of world No. 91, marking her debut in the top 100.

Similarly, Australia’s Kimberly Birrell achieved her career-best ranking, climbing from No. 101 to No. 95. Despite not securing main-draw wins, advancing through the qualifying rounds earned her 30 points to reach her highest ranking yet.

Further up in the WTA rankings, Yulia Putintseva has finally broken into the top 20 at the age of 30. The talented Kazakh player, who has enjoyed her most consistent season so far, advanced to the 3rd round before losing to 9th seed Daria Kasatkina. Nonetheless, she climbed three places to a career-best No. 20, after being ranked in the top 40 in eight of the past nine seasons.

The highest-ranked player on this list is Croatia’s Donna Vekic, a silver medallist at Paris 2024. She reached the 4th round at the Australian Open, delivering one of the tournament’s most exciting matches against 12th seed Diana Shnaider (7-6, 6-7, 7-5). However, two days later, she was outplayed by 27th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (6-7, 0-6). Still, she moved up two positions to world No. 17.

Serbia’s Olga Danilovic, who reached the 4th round by upsetting 7th seed Jessica Pegula, will make her top-50 debut. The 24-year-old now sits at world No. 41 following her straight-sets loss to Paula Badosa in the Margaret Court Arena. Other players reaching their career-high rankings include Ashlyn Krueger (No. 50) and Suzan Lamens (No. 67).

17. Donna Vekic

20. Yulia Putintseva

41. Olga Danilovic

50. Ashlyn Krueger

67. Suzan Lamens

91. Eva Lys

95. Kimberly Birrell