Ranking Watch: Polona Pushes Into Top 40
Published July 11, 2011 06:02
Bastad champion Polona Hercog and runner-up Johanna Larsson both jumped to new career-highs on the new rankings.
Hercog - the only Slovenian in the Top 200 - achieved her previous career-high of No.43 in September 2010, was down to No.70 as recently as May, climbed to No.53 last week and then rose to No.37 after capturing her first career singles title. The 20-year-old Hercog is the second-youngest player in the Top 50 behind No.13 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, who turned 20 earlier this month.
Here is a list of all Slovenians in WTA rankings history to crack the Top 40:
| Player | Career-High Rank | Date Achieved |
| Polona Hercog | No.37 | July 11, 2011 |
| Maja Matevzic | No.38 | August 25, 2003 |
| Tina Pisnik | No.29 | January 12, 2004 |
| Katarina Srebotnik | No.20 | August 7, 2006 |
As for Larsson, the highest-ranked Swede had never previously cracked the Top 60 much less the Top 50, but after her second career runner-up showing, she went all the way from No.65 to No.46.
Bethanie Mattek-Sands, who was ranked outside the Top 100 as recently as last August, bested her previous career-high by one spot in going from No.31 to No.30, four ahead of Venus Williams, the second-highest-ranked American.
Also among those establishing new career-highs were Budapest runner-up Irina-Camelia Begu and champion Roberta Vinci. Begu had reached a then career-high of No.77 the week before Budapest and is now all the way up to No.60. Vinci also was at a then career-high of No.25 before her run to the title lifted her to No.23.
