The wave of emerging Aussie talent has continued its promising push up the professional rankings ladder, with several young guns this week achieving rankings milestones.
On the women’s side, Storm Sanders for the first time cracked the world’s top 300, moving up 19 places to world No.289.
The 18-year-old’s rise came thanks to her run to the quarterfinals at last week’s $50,000 ITF event in Fukuoka, Japan, along the way upsetting No.1 seed Saisai Zheng in straight sets.
“Career high ranking of 289 today! Cracked the 300, woo very happy 
thanks for all your support!” Sanders tweeted on Monday.
Also enjoying continued improvement was Alison Bai, who jumped 33 places – cracking the top 500 as a result – after qualifying for a $25,000 ITF event in Phuket and then going on to reach the second round.
In just two weeks, Bai has risen from No.600 to her current mark of No.482.
> check out the latest release of the WTA rankings
Among the men there were several improvers, with success on both the ATP Challenger and ITF Futures circuits proving a valuable ranking point earner.
The most notable movers and shakers were:
| Rose |
New rank. |
Latest result | |
| Matthew Ebden | 10 | No.124 | QF Kun-Ming Challenger |
| James Duckworth | 32 | No.186 | SF Rio Quente Challenger* |
| John-Patrick Smith | 34 | No.227 | SF Kun-Ming Challenger |
| Andrew Whittington | 57 | No.569 | F Greece F5 ITF |
| Gavin Van Peperzeel | 93 | No.658 | F Israel F8 ITF^ |
| Carsten Ball | 96 | No.668 | F USA F11 ITF |
| Harry Bourchier | 142 | No.1338 | R2 Italy F6 ITF |
* Duckworth’s semifinal run in Rio Quente was preceded a week earlier by winning the title at an ITF Futures event in Chile, contributing to his rise in this week’s rankings. He built an eight-match winning streak before falling in the last four in Rio Quente.
^ Thanks to continued success in Israel (he reached the semifinals of an ITF event there the week prior) Van Peperzeel has risen from No.832 to No.658 (a career-high) in just two weeks.
Latest
WA