A Monday full of good news had light blue and white tennis. In the men’s branch, he celebrated the appearance of five national representatives in the top 50. And in the women’s branch, he celebrated an equally important achievement. For the first time since 2005, Argentina has three players ranked among the best hundred in the ranking WTAan achievement that made possible Julia Riera with his consecration in the W75 de Chiassowith which the woman from Pergamin broke the barrier of the top 100 for the first time.
Riera, 21, defeated in the final of the Swiss tournament – the second most important category in the ITF World Tour to the hungarian Anna Bondar108th in the world, by 6-3 and 7-6 (7-2) and made a jump of 18 steps in the world rankings, from 112th to 94th place.
The woman from Buenos Aires, double bronze medalist in the Santiago 2023 Pan American Games, thus becoming the third Argentine in the first hundred players in the ranking. She joined Nadia Podoroskawhich is 66th, now Lourdes Carlé, which is located 82nd. And after almost 19 years, Argentine tennis once again had a trio of standard-bearers among the first hundred in the world rankings.
You have to go back to August 1, 2005 to find a ranking with that same amount. In that update, Gisela Dulko – who had just started her professional career and had played her first final in January in Hobart – was ranked 30th and was the best South American racket in the WTA. Mariana Diaz Oliva, champion at the WTA in Palermo 2002, was 67th. AND Paola Suarezwho became four in the world in singles (and one in doubles, like Dulko) and won four trophies on the major circuit, was in 93rd place.
The following week, Pergamino, in full recovery from hip surgery, dropped 14th places and left the top 100. And Argentina had to wait until this Monday to once again have three representatives above that barrier.
He achieved it thanks to a great week from Riera on the Swiss brick dust. The woman from Pergamin won her sixth crown in the ITF World Tour feminine -equivalent to the former Futures men’s – and the first of this season. His consecration allowed him to take an important step in his career, which exploded in May of last year in the WTA 250 Rabatthe competition that marked his absolute debut on the major circuit.
In that event, which she arrived at as 195th in the rankings, she defeated the Frenchwoman in the first round. Kristina Mladenovicformer number ten in the ranking (at that time, 165th after surpassing some injuries); She then defeated the Egyptian Mayar Sherif, 55th; and the Kazakh Yulia Putintseva, 61st, before saying goodbye to the Austrian Julia Grabher, 74th. And she climbed 45th places to the 150th step.
And on Sunday, with her first ITF title in more than a year, she was able to sneak into the top 100 for the first time. A very important achievement for a true racket fighter, who had retired in 2015, at just 15 years old, tired to always fight it uphill; But a year later, she decided to resume her career and it didn’t take long for her to start reaping good results.
This Monday Riera joined Podoroska and Carlé, who were already installed among the first hundred ranked in the WTA.
The 27-year-old from Rosario, who was 36th, returned to that group in mid-2023, after a couple of seasons complicated by an injury to her right leg that caused her to lose all the ground she had conquered. Physical problems forced her to start again from the bottom with a lot of work and on June 12 she appeared 94th. A month ago, she added her second WTA 125, a tournament level similar to the male challengers, by winning the title in San Luis de Potosí.
The 24-year-old from Tandil broke into that elite in March, a week after reaching the semifinals of the WTA 125 of Puerto Vallartain which she lost to the Australian Taylah Preston (153°) for a double 6-2. Two weeks ago, after winning a competition in that same category in La Bisbal D´EmpordáSpain (the first of his career), reached 84th place, his best position.
Both have secured their place in the main draw of Roland Garros. Podoroska will go to Paris with the hope of playing again at the level he showed in that tournament in 2020, when he surprised by reaching the semis. Carlé will have the pleasure of making his debut in the main draw of a Grand Slam.
And Riera? As the entry list of the “big” Parisian closed at the beginning of last week, she did not get into the picture directly. But he is 14th on the list of alternates and he could play qualifying. Although it will be necessary to see if he prioritizes that, with the hope of playing his first Major, or chooses to defend the points from Morocco, which is played the same week as the qualifying phase of the French Open.