Rankings Watch: Vondrousova, Kessler surge ahead as Wimbledon looms

Marketa Vondrousova climbs 91 spots to No. 73 after defeating two major champions in Berlin, while McCartney Kessler breaks into the Top 40 with her third title in 10 months.

Last week, the 2025 grass-court swing delivered more unexpected results, favoring players who know how to work the surface. Following No. 86 Tatjana Maria’s surprise title run at Queen’s, No. 164 Marketa Vondrousova emerged from a Berlin draw stacked with 13 Top 20 players to win the WTA 500 trophy.

The former Wimbledon champion Vondrousova's low ranking was misleading, as it has been so often in a career marked by repeated injuries. This time last year, she was ranked No. 6 -- only to be sidelined for the last six months of 2024, then another three months this spring with a shoulder issue. Vondrousova has a habit of springing surprises. She won her first title in Biel in 2017 as a qualifier ranked No. 233, playing just her second WTA main draw. In 2023, ranked No. 42, she became the first unseeded champion at Wimbledon.

Her fluctuating health has sent her ranking as high as the Top 20 and as low as outside the Top 100. Vondrousova's title run in Berlin -- which included wins over two reigning major champions, Madison Keys and Aryna Sabalenka -- vaulted her 91 spots to No. 73. That means both grass-court WTA 500 champions this year, Maria and Vondrousova, will enter Wimbledon unseeded and dangerous.

Kessler, Wang Xinyu climb into Top 40

At the WTA 250 in Nottingham, University of Florida alumna McCartney Kessler captured the title, continuing her impressive rise from college tennis to the professional tour. Kessler has won three WTA titles in the past 10 months. She's the reigning champion in Cleveland and Hobart, and also reached the Austin final this year. The 25-year-old was ranked No. 945 at the start of 2023 and No. 217 at the start of 2024. The win propelled her into the Top 40 for the first time, climbing 10 spots from No. 42 to No. 32.

Hot on Kessler's heels is Berlin runner-up Wang Xinyu, who climbs 16 places from No. 49 to No. 33. The 23-year-old reached her first career final in style, defeating two former Berlin winners (Ons Jabeur in qualifying, Liudmila Samsonova in the semifinals) as well as upsetting Roland Garros champion Coco Gauff in the second round for her third career Top 5 victory. Wang is just one spot beneath the career high of No. 32 that she set in October 2023.

Other notable rankings movements

Jasmine Paolini, +1 to No. 4: Paolini lost her Berlin opener to Jabeur, but swaps places with Zheng Qinwen, who withdrew from the tournament with a neck injury. Paolini is now in line for a Top 4 seeding at Wimbledon.

Magda Linette, +4 to No. 27: The 33-year-old reached the first tour-level grass-court semifinal of her career in Nottingham and rises to her highest ranking since January 2024.

Dayana Yastremska, +4 to No. 42: Yastremska was runner-up in Nottingham to Kessler -- the Ukrainian's seventh career WTA final, second of 2025 and first on grass.

Rebeka Masarova, +13 to No. 99: The Swiss player returns to the Top 100 for the first time since last June after qualifying and reaching the second round in Berlin. Masarova won just three of her first 10 matches of 2025, but has been resurgent since March. Her record since then is 24-9, including two WTA 1000 third-round runs (Miami and Madrid), a final showing at the Vic WTA 125 and two further WTA 125 semifinals in Puerto Vallarta and Birmingham.

Panna Udvardy, +17 to No. 152: Former No. 76 Udvardy claimed her first title at any level since 2022 at last week's Blois ITF W75.

Dominika Salkova, +26 to No. 167: The 20-year-old Czech won her third career ITF W75 title in Zagreb last week. Salkova, who was sidelined for three months this year because of an abdominal injury, now has a perfect 7-0 record in pro finals.

Tara Wuerth, +43 to No. 207: Wuerth's last three ITF final appearances have all come on home soil. The Croatian won the Zagreb W75 title in May 2024, defended it this year and was the runner-up in another Zagreb ITF W75 last week.

Janice Tjen, +58 to No. 210: Pepperdine University alumna Tjen has been on a serious hot streak this year. The 23-year-old Indonesian won last week's Taizhou ITF W50 to extend her winning streak to 20 matches and 40 sets over the past month. Since April, Tjen's record is 35-4, and she has collected five ITF titles in this span. This time last year, she was ranked No. 1,046. Now, she's at a career high.

Julie Belgraver, +38 to No. 239: Belgraver, the daughter of former No. 57 Noelle Van Lottum, reached her first ITF W75 final in Blois last week and rises to a new career high. The 22-year-old Frenchwoman has compiled a 16-6 record in her last six tournaments, including her first WTA 125 quarterfinal in Paris and a first Grand Slam qualifying win at Roland Garros.

Mingge Xu, +32 to No. 318: The 17-year-old Briton was victorious on her WTA main-draw debut in Nottingham last week, defeating Katie Volynets to notch her second career Top 100 win.

Mika Stojsavljevic, +117 to No. 802: Another British teenager, 16-year-old US Open junior champion Stojsavljevic, posted her first career Top 100 win in Nottingham qualifying over Anastasia Zakharova. Both Xu and Stojsavljevic will make their Grand Slam main-draw debuts as wild cards at Wimbledon next week.

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