The final week of tuneups for Roland Garros saw two of the longest-standing tournaments on the WTA Tour Driven by Mercedes-Benz take place. The Internationaux de Strasbourg was first held in 1987, and is in its third year at WTA 500 level. The inaugural edition of the Grand Prix SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem took place in Casablanca in 2001, and having been held in various Moroccan cities over the years has been played in the capital of Rabat since 2016.
In Strasbourg, Emma Navarro delivered a statement comeback after struggling with health and form. The American went into the tournament with just a 5-11 season record, having taken a month off tour due to illness following Indian Wells. But she captured her third career title, and first on clay, with a run that included three-set upsets of Iva Jovic and Victoria Mboko — her first Top 20 win and Top 10 win respectively since defeating Iga Swiatek in Beijing last October.
Having reached her career high of No. 8 in March 2025, Navarro had slid to No. 39 last week. She rebounds back into the Top 30 this week, up 14 places to No. 25.
In Rabat, former junior No. 1 Petra Marcinko broke through to claim her maiden WTA title — an appropriate venue, given that she’d reached the second round of the tournament as a wild card on her WTA main-draw debut in 2022. Marcinko had never previously reached a tour-level quarterfinal, but dropped just one set all week. The 20-year-old Croatian jumps 25 places from No. 76 to a new career high of No. 51.
The Rabat runner-up was former No. 25 Anhelina Kalinina, who is on the comeback trail after a six-month injury hiatus last year. The Ukrainian reached her third career final, and first since Rome 2023, but was forced to retire due to a toe injury while trailing Marcinko 6-2, 3-0. Kalinina, who was ranked as low as No. 202 in February, climbs another 29 places from No. 89 to No. 60.
Other notable rankings movements
Daria Kasatkina, +9 to No. 53: Kasatkina qualified for Strasbourg and reached her first tour-level quarterfinal since Adelaide 2025. Having missed two months of the 2026 season due to a hip injury, Kasatkina’s uptick in form follows a WTA 125 title in La Bisbal d’Empordà last month.
Panna Udvardy, +9 to No. 59: Bogota finalist Udvardy reached her second semifinal of the season in Rabat, and the Hungarian is up to a new career high.
Zhang Shuai, +12 to No. 61: Zhang got into the Strasbourg draw as a lucky loser, then fended off five match points in her first round against Cristina Bucsa. The 37-year-old went on to reach her first clay-court quarterfinal since Palermo 2021 (and first at WTA 500 level or above since Rome 2014).
Jil Teichmann, +37 to No. 170: Former No. 21 Teichmann returned from a seven-month mental health hiatus in April, and in her fifth tournament back reached the Rabat semifinals.
Tyra Caterina Grant, +35 to No. 184: The 18-year-old Italian claimed the biggest title of her career so far at last week’s Kosice ITF W75, and makes her Top 200 debut as a result.
Madison Brengle, +48 to No. 241: Brengle, 36, claimed her 21st career ITF title last week at the Pelham W50 last week — after staving off four match points to defeat Gina Feistel 6-4, 5-7, 7-6(7) in the first round.
Valentina Ryser, +69 to No. 285 and Yuki Naito, +151 to No. 286: Last week’s Takasaki ITF W100 event ended in an all-qualifier final in which home hope Naito defeated Switzerland’s Ryser 6-4, 6-3. It Naito’s biggest career title to date, and first at any level since 2021. Having reached her career high of No. 169 in April 2021, the 25-year-old returns to the Top 300 for the first time since 2023.
Yasmine Kabbaj, +37 to No. 297: Kabbaj, 22, delivered a historic run in Rabat, upsetting Tatjana Maria to become just the second Moroccan WTA quarterfinalist in the Open Era (following Nadia Lalami at Fès 2011). The San Diego State University alumna was unabled to convert three match points against Teichmann to become the first Moroccan WTA semifinalist — but this week she does become the second Moroccan to reach the Top 300 in WTA rankings history, following Bahia Mouhtassine (who peaked at No. 139 in 2002).
Yelyzaveta Kotliar, +86 to No. 442: The 19-year-old Ukrainian pulled off a remarkable comeback from 4-0 down in the decider to defeat Francesca Jones in the first round of Rabat — her first WTA main-draw victory. Kotliar climbs to a new career high as a result.
