Bia Haddad first Brazil tennis player among world’s top 20

On Monday (Aug 15), Bia Haddad ranked 16th on the global list of the International Women's Tennis Association (WTA), an unprecedented position in the career of the 26-year-old Brazilian.

It is the best position for a Brazilian woman in the history of women’s tennis in the country’s Open Era, initiated in 1968. Not long before, the shining star of the circuit was Brazilian Maria Esther Bueno. In the 1950s and early 1970s, Bueno won eight Grand Slam titles. However, the score only became valid for the WTA ranking in 1975.

WORLD NUMBER 16! 🎾🇧🇷

Bia Haddad Maia reaches the best ranking of her career.

Now it's time to get the Top 10! 🚀🚀

🖼 @WTA pic.twitter.com/tECNqwEbd0

— Team Brazil (@timebrasil) August 15, 2022

After a history-making campaign that resulted in the runner-up singles title at the WTA 1000 Toronto on Sunday (14), Bia Haddad leaped eight places in the rankings, from 24th to 16th. To reach the final against Romania's Simona Halep, Haddad surpassed world's number-one Iga Swiatek, Belinda Bencic (12th), Leylah Fernandez (13th), Karolina Pliskova (14th), and Martina Trevisan (26th).

The Brazilian is back on court Tuesday (16)—time still undefined—at the WTA 1000 in Cincinnati, US. The debut will be against the Latvian Jelena Ostapenko (15th). In the doubles competition, Bia will play alongside Kazakh Anna Danilina against Taiwanese Latisha Chan and Australian Samantha Stosur.

🗣️ BIA! BIA! BIA!

A 𝐟𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 run in Toronto will see Beatriz Haddad Maia make her Top 20 debut next week 🆙🇧🇷 #NBO22 pic.twitter.com/J4IRL45BKi

— wta (@WTA) August 14, 2022

This year, Haddad won the two main titles of her career—the WTA 250 of Nottingham and Birmingham, both in the UK—besides winning the WTA 125 of Saint Malo, France.

In the doubles, the Brazilian started off the season with the title of the WTA 500 in Sydney, Australia, together with Danilina. In June, besides the singles title, she also won the doubles trophy at the WTA 250 in Nottingham, this time together with China’s Shuai Zhang.