Most of the attention in the new rankings was on the men’s No. 1 changing hands, with Jannik Sinner reclaiming the top spot from Carlos Alcaraz after Monte Carlo. On the WTA side, however, an eye-catching arrival in the Top 100 deserves notice. Austrian teenager Lilli Tagger moved from No. 117 to No. 97 after advancing to her first WTA 500 quarterfinal on home soil in Linz.

Tagger, who just turned 18 in February, is the first player born in 2008 to reach the Top 100 on either the WTA or ATP rankings. Her playing style stands out: she uses a one-handed backhand, a rare stroke among the women’s tour and particularly unusual for a rising teenager.

That classic technique is reinforced by her coaching: she is currently being coached by Francesca Schiavone, the last woman with a one-handed backhand to win a Grand Slam title.

Her results to date underline the promise. Last June she captured the junior title at Roland Garros as an unseeded player, defeating four seeded opponents in six matches, including the No. 1 and No. 3 seeds, and she did so without dropping a set. In her very first WTA main draw last fall she reached her first WTA final as a No. 235-ranked wild card, finishing runner-up to Anna Blinkova.

At Linz she recorded the biggest win of her career by beating No. 21-ranked Liudmila Samsonova on the way to the WTA 500 quarterfinal.

Tagger also alters the look of the Top 100 with her backhand: she is now one of four women in the Top 100 who use a one-handed backhand, alongside Tatjana Maria (No. 63), Viktorija Golubic (No. 81) and Diane Parry (No. 100). Her rapid rise and distinctive technique make her one to watch as she establishes herself on the senior tour.

World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka has withdrawn from next week’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix in Stuttgart because of an injury she said was sustained after the Miami Open.

A four-time finalist in Stuttgart, Sabalenka did not disclose the exact nature of the problem when she announced her withdrawal on Thursday. She noted the injury followed her 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 victory over Coco Gauff in the Miami Open final on March 28, a result that made her the fifth woman in the Open Era to win Indian Wells and Miami back-to-back.

Sabalenka said she was “very sad” to miss the loaded WTA 500 event in a statement posted to her Instagram story on Thursday.

“I always love coming back to Stuttgart. The atmosphere, the fans, and the support I feel there are so special to me,” she wrote. “And of course, I was really hoping to have another chance to fight for that Porsche.”

“Even though I tried everything to recover in time, I’m not ready to compete,” she added. “I’m really sorry to miss this amazing tournament. Wishing everyone a great week in Stuttgart, and I hope to see you all again very soon.”

With Sabalenka out, world No. 2 Elena Rybakina will now top a still-strong field. The tournament entry list also includes Top 10 players Coco Gauff, Iga Swiatek, Jasmine Paolini, Elina Svitolina and Mirra Andreeva.

Organizers and fans lose a leading contender and a player who has come close to the title on four occasions. Sabalenka’s decision removes one of the highest-ranked participants from the draw and hands Rybakina the position of the top seed going into the clay-court WTA 500 event.

Jelena Ostapenko combined power and blunt on-court confrontation to steady a wobble and defeat Alexandra Eala 6-4, 7-5 in the first clay-court match of her season at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz. The fourth-seeded Latvian struck 41 winners and turned a dangerous second-set deficit into a straight-sets victory.

Ostapenko led after the opening set but trailed 4-0 in the second when she stopped and addressed a vocal spectator who appeared to be loudly criticising her play. She held out her racquet, looked directly at the fan and challenged him to step onto court. “How you play?” she was heard saying. “Come here now. Come play tennis!”

On the next changeover she brought the behaviour to the attention of on-court officials and warned that the individual should be removed if the interruptions continued. “If these people continue again,” Ostapenko was heard saying as she identified the offender to on-court personnel, “out. … If it’s again, he’s out. If one more time, out.”

Following that exchange she found a decisive run of form. The 2017 Roland Garros champion won seven of the last eight games, including six straight from 5-1 down, to close out the match and record her second quarterfinal appearance of the year. The win also evened her all-time head-to-head record with Eala.

Eala, the Filipina who had previously beaten Ostapenko during her breakthrough run to the Miami Open semifinals in 2025, pushed hard but could not stop Ostapenko’s late momentum. After the match the often-outspoken Ostapenko addressed the crowd in her on-court interview, smiling and thanking supporters while admitting, “you helped me a lot today.”