Petra Marcinko, who turned 20 last Thursday, can celebrate her birthday with a number of excellent gifts.

The Croatian lifted her second straight ITF trophy on Emirati soil at last week’s Dubai W100, extending her winning streak to 10 matches following her victory at the previous week’s W75 in Fujairah. Marcinko makes her Top 100 debut as a result, soaring 21 places from No. 103 to No. 82 in the latest edition of the PIF WTA Rankings. That means she will also gain direct entry to next month’s Australian Open — the first Grand Slam main draw of her career.

A former junior No. 1 who was the 2022 Australian Open girls’ champion, Marcinko made her tour-level debut in Rabat the same year, reaching the second round. She got as high as No. 132 in October 2023 after making the Monastir second round, where she stretched Jasmine Paolini to three sets, but had slumped out of the Top 300 a year later. However, Marcinko’s resurgence has hit its stride in the second half of 2025. She has compiled a 40-8 record since Wimbledon, which also includes her first WTA 125 title in Rome and two further W100 trophies in Landisville and Tyler.

Marcinko is the 29th player to break the Top 100 for the first time in 2025, and the fourth 2005-born player overall following Linda Fruhvirtova, Alexandra Eala and Ella Seidel.

Dubai also saw a remarkable run from beaten finalist Vera Zvonareva, who fell 6-3, 6-3 to Marcinko in the title match. Former No. 2 Zvonareva was playing her first tournament in 19 months as a wild card; she had not competed since 2024 Strasbourg qualifying (where she fell 6-0, 6-0 to Ashlyn Krueger) and had not won a match at any level since March 2024, where she defeated Sebastianna Scilipoti 6-3, 6-1 in the first round of the Alaminos-Larnaca ITF W35.

Yet the 41-year-old two-time major finalist notched a series of impressive victories in Dubai, including a 6-3, 6-7(4), 6-4 semifinal barnburner over 16-year-old Mika Stojsavljevic, advancing to her biggest final since 2017 — when she was runner-up to Kateryna Baindl at the Dalian WTA 125. Zvonareva, who fell off the WTA rankings in April, re-enters them with a bang at No. 654 this week. She’s the third-oldest player on this week’s ranking list, behind only fellow 41-year-old Emily Webley-Smith at No. 1,431 and 45-year-old Venus Williams at No. 577.

Rakhimova returns to Top 100, Hercog surges over 300 places

Last week’s two WTA 125 trophies went to Kamilla Rakhimova and Polona Hercog. Rakhimova collected her second career WTA 125 title in Angers, following Guadalajara 2024, and climbs 15 places from No. 112 to No. 97 — re-entering the Top 100 after an eight-week absence.

Rakhimova’s rise also entails a notable national milestone. This week marks her first playing under the Uzbek flag, meaning she becomes just the fourth player representing Uzbekistan to be ranked inside the Top 100 following Iroda Tulyaganova, Varvara Lepchenko (who switched nationality to the United States in 2007) and Akgul Amanmuradova. The central Asian country was last represented in the Top 100 in July 2012, when former No. 50 Amanmuradova dropped out of it for the last time.

Elsewhere, another nationality switch has led to another milestone. World No. 50 Anastasia Potapova is now representing Austria, and becomes the central European country’s first Top 50 representative since Yvonne Meusburger in July 2014.

Like Zvonareva, 34-year-old Hercog struck a blow for the tour’s veteran comebacks with her title run in Quito. The Slovenian battled through a pair of three-setters in her first two rounds over Sara Sorribes Tormo and No. 2 seed Oleksandra Oliynykova — the latter for her first Top 100 win since 2023 — and then dropped just 11 games in her last three rounds. Hercog lifted her biggest trophy since Lugano 2019, where she defeated Iga Swiatek in the final to collect her third WTA title.

Former No. 35 Hercog, who played just one tournament between July 2024 and July 2025, rockets up 339 places this week from No. 672 to No. 333.

Other notable rankings movements

Tamara Korpatsch, +11 to No. 127: Former No. 71 Korpatsch was the runner-up in Angers. The 30-year-old German ended top seed and two-time champion Alycia Parks’ 12-match winning streak at the tournament 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals.

Anna-Lena Friedsam, +23 to No. 170: Former No. 45 Friedsam reached her second WTA 125 semifinal of 2025 in Angers.

Luisina Giovannini, +55 to No. 226: The 19-year-old Argentinian reached her first career WTA 125 final in Quito, upsetting Maja Chwalinska en route, and soars to a new career high. Giovannini had previously won four ITF W35 titles in 2025, but had not reached a quarterfinal above that level prior to Quito.

Mika Stojsavljevic, +44 to No. 298: The 2024 US Open junior champion reached the Dubai ITF W100 semifinals as a qualifier, and has compiled a 22-5 record since September. Britain’s Stojsavljevic, 16, enters the Top 300 for the first time (and is now the youngest player in that echelon).

Martyna Kubka, +73 to No. 308: The 24-year-old Pole captured her first career ITF W50 title in Selva Gardena last week.

Sofia Shapatava, +61 to No. 360: At the age of 36, Shapatava won the first ITF W35 title of her career two weeks ago in Antalya. The Georgian previously reached a career high of No. 186 in September 2014, the same year she qualified for her sole Grand Slam main draw to date at Roland Garros.

Daria Khomutsianskaya, +27 to No. 375: Khomutsianskaya captured her fifth consecutive ITF title two weeks ago in Sharm el Sheikh. The 21-year-old compiled a 25-match winning streak between mid-October and last week, lifting one W35 trophy and four ITF W15s. Since September, Khomutsianskaya’s record is 39-2, and she has risen from No. 907 to a new career high this week.