Marta Kostyuk and Elina Svitolina turned May’s clay swing into a study in contrasting elation and quiet resolve. Kostyuk celebrated her first WTA 1000 in Madrid with an audacious backflip. Two weeks later Svitolina won her third Italian Open, closing out Coco Gauff in the final, flinging her racquet, raising her arms and smiling in disbelief eight years after her last Rome title.

Those scenes of release came with reminders of a harder reality. Both players are from Ukraine and have spoken openly about supporting their country. Even as they climbed new career highs, civilians in Ukraine were being hit by renewed missile strikes. A few minutes after her trophy twirl Svitolina finished her speech this way:

I want to thank all the people back in Ukraine that have been supporting me, watching at night, being in the bomb shelters.

“It’s been really heavy for the past couple of weeks for Ukraine, and I want to thank you for all the support, and I feel all the love.”

Before Kostyuk’s backflip came her decision to bypass the handshake with Mirra Andreeva, mirroring the wider practice among Ukrainian players toward most Russian and Belarusian opponents. In her victory comments she thanked “all of my opponents” rather than singling out Andreeva. Asked about the long-running conflict, Kostyuk reinforced her stance: “For me, that doesn’t change,” Kostyuk said.

The pair are part of a deep Ukrainian contingent now counting seven players in the Top 100: Svitolina (No. 7), Kostyuk (15), Dayana Yastremska (45), Yulia Starodubtseva (54), Oleksandra Oliynykova (66), Anhelina Kalinina (89) and Daria Snigur (95). Oliynykova drew headlines earlier this year after accusing several tour-mates of “participating in Russian propaganda,” and she has since climbed from No. 96 to a career-high ranking.

On court the women have also improved. Kostyuk’s season form has been strong, and she has addressed mental hurdles that once undermined consistency. “I was living for many years in that state of everyone expecting big results from me,” Kostyuk said in Madrid. “I’ve tried to change that narrative in my head. And that worked, because, you just, you’re more consistent, you just go out there, you do your job, you don’t have like emotional attachment to it. Whether you win or lose, you just keep working and keep becoming a better person and a player, and that’s it.”

Svitolina changed her physical approach and surged through a tough Rome draw, and reflected on it succinctly: “This one is I think one of the toughest draws that I had in a tournament,” Svitolina said. “I’m very proud of the way that I’ve been handling myself and handling the nerves and being consistent.”

Zeynep Sonmez has moved to a new career-high and become the highest-ranked Turkish player in WTA history after a rise to No. 59 this week. The 24-year-old climbed from No. 65 following a second-round showing at the WTA 1000 event in Rome, eclipsing Cagla Buyukakcay’s previous national high of No. 60 from 2016.

Buyukakcay and Sonmez remain the only two Turkish players to crack the Top 100 in WTA rankings. They are also the only two Turkish players to have won WTA titles: Buyukakcay captured the clay-court trophy in Istanbul in 2016, and Sonmez won the hard-court event in Merida, Mexico in 2024.

Sonmez has a direct personal link to that earlier milestone. She was a ballgirl during Buyukakcay’s run to the Istanbul title a decade ago, and told the WTA it was an inspiration. “It was very emotional for me,” she said. “Everyone in Turkish tennis was there. Of course, it was a good inspiration for me and for all Turkish players.”

Her rise to No. 59 follows a breakthrough season on the biggest stages. Last summer at Wimbledon she became the first Turkish player in the Open Era, woman or man, to reach the third round of a Grand Slam. She repeated that third-round appearance at the Australian Open this year.

Sonmez has also established consistent form on tour, advancing at least one round in her last six events, all at WTA 500 level or higher. Highlights of that run include a WTA 500 quarterfinal in Merida and a third-round showing at the WTA 1000 in Madrid. She also recorded the first Top 10 victory of her career against Jasmine Paolini in Stuttgart.

© 2026 Robert Prange

Sorana Cirstea has reached a new career milestone, entering the WTA Top 20 at No. 18 following her run to the semifinals of the WTA 1000 event in Rome. The Romanian jumped from No. 27 to a career-high ranking after a week that included a third-round victory over Aryna Sabalenka, a win that made her the oldest woman ever to defeat a reigning WTA No. 1.

At 36 years young, Cirstea also set a different record: she is the oldest women’s player to make a Top 20 debut in the WTA rankings, which date back to November 1975. The breakthrough completes a remarkable late-career surge. Over the last 10 months she rose from outside the Top 100 last August to No. 44 by the 2025 year-end rankings, and has continued to climb through 2026.

Cirstea has come close before, having reached No. 21 in both 2013 and 2014 and spending time inside the Top 25 in 2009, 2022, 2023 and 2024. This season has provided clear highlights: her fourth career WTA title, and her first on home soil, came in Cluj-Napoca in February, and last week she recorded the fourth WTA 1000 semifinal appearance of her career in Rome. She is currently No. 11 on the year-to-date race standings.

During the off-season Cirstea announced that this would be the last year of her professional career. Despite that, 2026 is shaping up as the best year of her career. Having missed Roland Garros last year with an ankle injury, she arrives at the clay-court major with no points to defend, an opening to extend the climb she has mounted over the past season.

The move into the Top 20 caps a string of results that have redefined the back half of Cirstea’s career, blending a long experience of the tour with a sudden run of form on the biggest stages.