With much of the world at a relative standstill, we’re taking the opportunity to look back on times of more substantial movement on the global tennis scene. In fact, the first two months of the 2020 tennis season saw a number of players take huge strides through the WTA rankings as a result of their performances on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

Here are the most significant movers in the Top 300 so far this year:

Seventeen-year-old Canadian Leylah Annie Fernandez has made the biggest leap among Top 300 players this year, rocketing 91 places from No. 209 at the start of 2020 to No. 118 by the time the rankings were frozen through the week of 9 March. Inspired by qualifying for her first Grand Slam at the Australian Open and then going on to stun world No. 5 Belinda Bencic for her first Top 100 victory while on Fed Cup duty, she followed with two stand-out runs at WTA events: reaching her first Tour-level final in Acapulco and then making the quarter-finals in Monterrey.

Nadia Podoroska soared 83 spots to No. 172 the WTA rankings after going on a 14-match winning streak through January and early February in a run that took in titles at W25 events in Malibu and Petit-Bourg (Gaudeloupe) on the ITF World Tennis Tour, as well as a march to the final at the WTA 125 event in Newport Beach. The 23-year-old Argentine, who has 13 ITF pro singles titles to her name, was in the midst of another strong run at the W25 tournament in Irapuato when the suspension of the Tour due to the coronavirus outbreak curtailed her progress at the quarter-final stage.

Gabriela Talaba climbed from outside the Top 300 to a career-high No. 227 after qualifying – and reaching the quarter-finals – at back-to-back W100 tournaments in the USA in Midland and Nicholasville, soon after a run to the semi-finals at the W25 Daytona Beach tournament. It took eventual champion Shelby Rogers and beaten finalist Claire Liu to halt the 24-year-old Romanian’s progress in Midland and Nicholasville, respectively.

Renata Zarazua also started her year with a semi-final run at a W25 tournament, this time in Vero Beach, Florida, and qualified for the W100 tournament in Nicholasville, but it was the Mexican’s performance at the WTA tournament in Acapulco that gave her a real rankings boost. Her run to the semi-finals on home soil in Acapulco helped the 22-year-old climb 71 spots – and sit just three spots off her career-high ranking of 186 - by the time of the ranking freeze in March. You can read more about Zarazua’s ranking leap and the support she has received to help her progress in the professional game here.

China’s Fang Ying Xun has jumped 68 places in the WTA rankings since the turn of the year after winning her biggest title to date - and seventh at ITF level overall - at W60 Kyoto. The 25-year-old also began 2020 with a run to the final at W25 Hong Kong, where Russia’s Anastasiya Komardina denied her a first title at that level of competition, with her six previous titles coming at either $10k or $15k level.

There were also big moves for 19-year-old Australian Destanee Aiava, who reached back-to-back finals on home soil at W25 Launceston and W25 Perth to break back into the Top 200; Shelby Rogers, who secured her first title at W100 level in Midland to close in on a return to the Top 100 three years after reaching the Top 50; and 17-year-old Clara Tauson, who won the W25 title in Glasgow – her sixth at ITF level – and racked up a career-high ranking of 211 soon after a semi-final run at W25 Sunderland. 

Top 10 biggest movers in the WTA Top 300 in 2020 

Leylah Annie Fernandez   +91
Nadia Podoroska               +83
Gabriela Talaba                 +78
Renata Zarazua                 +71
Fang Ying Xun                   +68
Destanee Aiava                  +67
Shelby Rogers                    +61
Clara Tauson                       +59
Anastasia Zakharova         +56
Olga Govortsova                 +55

Outside of the Top 300, the biggest ranking jump in the WTA rankings so far in 2020 came courtesy of Kateryna Bondarenko, who moved a whopping 818 places to No. 350 in the world, while former world No. 35 Cici Bellis also achieved a jump of over 500 spots - climbing from No. 855 at the start of the year to No. 350 earlier this month after her third round run at the Australian Open marked a high point for the 20-year-old American following a succession of injuries.

Dutchwoman Jasmijn Gimbrere, 19, was the biggest mover in the ITF rankings, climbing 703 places to No. 1283 after qualifying for back-to-back W15 tournaments in Monastir.

Find out the highest climbers in the men's game this year here.