Jessica Pegula reclaims American No. 1 ladies’s tennis rating with a clay-court free hit to come back

Welcome again to the Monday Tennis Briefing, the place The Athletic will clarify the tales behind the tales from the previous week on court docket.

This week, essentially the most mercurial participant on the lads’s tour did what he does finest, there was an American shuffle on the high of the ladies’s rankings and a Wimbledon champion’s quandary revealed the fragile steadiness of tennis scheduling.

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An essential milestone for Jessica Pegula?

The American trio slightly below the summit of the ladies’s tennis rankings reshuffled this week, as Jessica Pegula moved forward of Coco Gauff by successful the WTA 500 title in Charleston. Pegula, who beat Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 after coming from 1-5 down within the second set, is now world No. 3, matching her career-high rating.

With a giant hole between the American and world No. 2 Iga Świątek, and one other large hole between Gauff and world No. 5 Madison Keys, it could look as if Pegula’s first clay-court title is extra vital than the tight tussle between world No. 3 and world No. 4, with simply 38 factors separating them.

However Pegula, who missed final 12 months’s clay-court swing with damage, is now getting into the 2 WTA 1,000s in Rome and Madrid after which the French Open in Paris with no factors to defend, successfully giving her a free hit for the following few months. She’ll be going into the floor transition with essentially the most wins on the WTA Tour this season (25) forward of world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, who has 23.

With Gauff defending over 1,200 factors, and Świątek on the hook for 4,195, Pegula may but climb greater with out having to win large on the purple grime.

James Hansen

Who can clarify the enigma of Botic van de Zandschulp?

Is there a extra intriguing participant on the ATP Tour than this Dutchman?

The mercurial Van de Zandschulp has develop into the tennis grasp of the sudden, successful when he’s in line to lose and falling aside when there’s seemingly no motive to take action.

Van de Zandschulp has crushed Carlos Alcaraz on the U.S. Open in straight units, ended Rafael Nadal’s profession with a Davis Cup humbling in Spain and defeated Novak Djokovic at Indian Wells (together with a 6-1 hammering of a remaining set) within the final eight months. All these wins had been achieved with barely a flicker of nerves — exceptional for a participant with a historical past of buckling underneath stress. He served for the match 3 times in opposition to Holger Rune within the 2023 Munich Open remaining and held 4 championship factors in all, however he ended up dropping.

Simply over a 12 months later, in Could 2024, Van de Zandschulp stated that he had develop into so disillusioned with tennis that he was contemplating retiring. As an alternative, he beat three of one of the best gamers in current historical past on among the sport’s greatest phases, staying calm underneath stress as if he had been having a knock at an area membership.

So, how would Van de Zandschulp fare within the first spherical of the Bucharest Open ATP 250 — the bottom rung on the tour — in opposition to Richard Gasquet, the 38-year-old Frenchman who will retire after this 12 months’s French Open?

He led by a set and two breaks, and had a match level on his serve for a 6-4, 6-4 win. However he missed it, and ended up dropping 6-1 within the decider, wanting as impartial as he had carried out in beating among the finest to ever do it.

Charlie Eccleshare

How did American males’s gamers attain a milestone in Houston?

With a simple put-away, Alex Michelsen secured a three-set victory over the French veteran Adrian Mannarino to succeed in the Houston Open quarterfinals. A reasonably unremarkable second in and of itself, however together with his win on April 3, Michelsen ensured that every one eight of the quarterfinalists could be American. It was the primary time that had occurred at an ATP Tour occasion for the reason that Prudential-Bache Securities Traditional in Orlando, Fla., in 1991.

Andre Agassi ended up successful the event, whereas Pete Sampras misplaced within the semifinals. These two, plus Jim Courier, began dominating the game quickly afterward. Will the Houston 2025 alumni do one thing related?

That looks like a giant stretch, however in Michelsen, a 20-year-old Californian, they’ve one of many breakout stars of this 12 months. Having reached the fourth spherical of the Australian Open, Michelsen is a few hundred rating factors exterior the world’s high 30 and has a vibrant future.

Of the opposite quarterfinalists, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul are established top-20 regulars, whereas Colton Smith, 22, Brandon Nakashima, 23 and Aleksandar Kovacevic, 26, are a bit additional down the tennis meals chain. Christopher Eubanks, 28, has didn’t kick on after his breakthrough in 2023.

Jenson Brooksby, 24, began the week because the furthest down of all of them at No. 507, has he rebuilds his rating after a doping ban. He saved 5 match factors throughout qualifying and his foremost draw matches on the best way to the ultimate, the place he eased previous Tiafoe for his first-ever tour title, rising 335 locations within the rankings within the course of.

American tennis followers will likely be hoping the occasion gives a springboard for the clay-court season for no less than a type of eight quarterfinalists.

Brooksby adopted a detailed run of matches with a comparatively routine victory within the remaining. (Leslie Plaza Johnson / Icon Sportswire through Related Press)

Charlie Eccleshare

What’s the worth of nationwide pleasure?

The Billie Jean King Cup takes heart stage in ladies’s tennis from April 10 to April 13, with the ultimate spherical of qualifiers for the worldwide workforce occasion. Two of the headliners scheduled to play — Świątek of Poland and Britain’s Emma Raducanu — declared they might not be representing their nations final week, each citing the necessity to capitalize on an off-week of their schedule.

Elena Rybakina, the 2022 Wimbledon champion who switched from representing Russia to representing Kazakhstan, will likely be touring to Melbourne to signify the nation in opposition to Australia and Colombia. She grew to become a citizen of Kazakhstan in 2017 in trade for monetary help from the nation’s tennis federation, which has since 2007 been bankrolled by billionaire businessman and philanthropist Bulat Utemuratov in a decades-long surge designed to rework a rustic with little preexisting tennis infrastructure into a real sporting energy.

For Rybakina, which means a visit to Australia — and lacking the WTA 500 in Stuttgart, Germany, which begins April 14. Rybakina is the defending champion there and can lose 500 factors by not enjoying, which can see her drop out of the highest 10 at finest. She might drop additional if different gamers carry out properly. If Kazakhstan undergo, which will matter much less — but it surely’s a fantastic demonstration of the push and pull of tennis competitors.

James Hansen

Shot of the week

Or maybe month, or possibly even 12 months, from Ryan Seggerman in Houston.

UNBELIEVABLE 🤯
RYAN SEGGERMAN WITH THE SHOT OF THE YEAR!#USClay | @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/VaxFKnaYYe
— Fayez Sarofim & Co. US Clay (@mensclaycourt) April 5, 2025

Really useful studying:

🏆 The winners of the week

🎾 ATP:

🏆 Flavio Cobolli (3) def. Sebastian Baez (1) 6-4, 6-4 to win the Tiriac Open (250) in Bucharest, Romania. It’s the Italian’s first ATP Tour title.
🏆 Luciano Darderi (7) def. Tallon Griekspoor (1) 7-6(3), 7-6(4) to win the Hassan Grand Prix II (250) in Marrakech, Morroco. It’s the Italian’s second ATP Tour title.
🏆 Jenson Brooksby (Q) def. Frances Tiafoe (2) 6-4, 6-2 to win the U.S. Males’s Clay Court docket Championship (250) in Houston. It’s the American’s first ATP Tour title.

🎾 WTA:

🏆 Jessica Pegula (1) def. Sofia Kenin 6-3, 7-5 to win the Charleston Open (500) in Charleston, S.C. It’s the American’s first clay-court WTA Tour title.
🏆 Camila Osorio (2) def. Katarzyna Kawa (Q) 6-3, 6-3 to win the Copa Colsanitas (250) in Bogotá, Colombia. Osorio has now received the occasion 3 times.

📈📉 On the rise / Down the road

📈 Jessica Pegula strikes up one place from No. 4 to No. 3 after her win in South Carolina.
📈 Jenson Brooksby ascends 335 spots from No. 507 to No. 172 after his win in Texas.
📈 Sofia Kenin reenters the highest 40 after rising 10 spots from No. 44 to No. 34.

📉 Matteo Berrettini falls seven locations from No. 27 to No. 34, relinquishing the top-32 spot that may see him seeded at large occasions.
📉 Maria Sakkari drops 18 locations from No. 64 to No. 82.
📉 Fabio Fognini tumbles 14 spots from No. 99 to No. 113.