Melbourne, Australia, 2 October 2024 | Matt Trollope

Olivia Gadecki’s recent run to the final of the WTA 500 event in Guadalajara has completely altered the trajectory of her season.

She began her week at the Mexican tournament as a qualifier ranked No.152, before scoring six wins in a row – including upset victories over Sloane Stephens, Danielle Collins and Martina Trevisan – to reach her first WTA final.

> READ MORE: Gadecki advances to career-biggest singles final at Guadalajara

It was a performance that saw the 22-year-old crack the top 100 and become Australia’s top-ranked woman, and she has since hit a career-high ranking of world No.84.

It also means her 2024 season suddenly looks a whole lot different.

“It’s definitely changed my schedule quite a bit,” Gadecki said on The Sit-Down podcast, a few days after her Guadalajara final loss to Magdalena Frech.

https://twitter.com/AustralianOpen/status/1838071971466391562

“I was actually planning on going back to London for a couple of weeks and then heading back to the States to play [ITF] 75s and there was a chance to play some [WTA] 125s and a 250. But actually I’m heading to China to play tournaments there, which is quite the schedule change.

“So I’m really excited about that, because that was the schedule I really wanted to play, but obviously I was sort of [thinking] ‘oh I’m not going to be ranked high enough to get into those, so I’ll just head sort of the other way’.

“But after this week, yeah, I’ve given myself the opportunity to head to Asia and compete there, which is very exciting.”

Gadecki will play qualifying at next week’s WTA 1000 event in Wuhan, the first of four events during a month-long swing through China.

> TRAIN WITH OLIVIA GADECKI: “The best advice I’ve got is to be present”

The rising star from Queensland is also scheduled to play tournaments in Ningbo, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, as she looks to maintain the impressive momentum she has built on the singles court.

Since the start of the grass-court season in June, Gadecki has gone 23-9, and has improved her ranking by almost 100 places after sitting at No.172 less than two months ago.

“It’s honestly amazing, and I can’t quite believe it, to be honest,” Gadecki said of her rapid rise.

“I just felt like I was in that 150 [ranking] bracket for quite a while, and I didn’t quite know that it could change. I knew it could change quickly in a week, but I didn’t think it would sort of change that quickly (laughter).

“I’m just really excited to keep going, keep working on my game, keep learning, and just see how far I can go.”