Zeynep Sonmez becomes highest ranked WTA Turkish player ever as she breaks into the top 60

The rise of Zeynep Sonmez is one to marvel at. She is making history in her home country of Turkey, getting it onto the tennis map with some positive showings on court. Back home, she has made history by becoming the highest ranked WTA player from Turkey ever.

She achieved that by climbing to a career high world number 59 after rising from 65th thanks to a second round showing at the Rome Open.

Sonmez fought back to defeat home favourite Jennifer Ruggeri 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 before coming unstuck against Jessica Pegula. It also comes off the back of a third round showing in the Madrid Open.

These wins have seen her not only break new ground from a ranking perspective but create history back home. Closely watched and supported by her fellow countrymen and women, she is now officially the highest ever ranked Turkish player on the WTA Tour. Cagla Buyukakcay previously bestowed the record, reaching 60th in the world back in 2016. This feels like the start for Sonmez. Her top 60 debut is special, but there is still more progress to be made.

Buyukakcay and Sonmez are the only two Turkish players to reach the Top 100 in WTA rankings history. They are also the only players to win a WTA title.

Sonmez achieved this in 2024 at the Merida Open. She defeated Ann Li in the final, bursting onto the scene. Those 250 points have since come off but that has not stopped her progress.

This year, she began by qualifying for the Australian Open, reaching the third round after making the headlines with a fantastic win over the number 11 seed Ekaterina Alexandrova. She would lose to Yulia Putintseva in the third round, just the second time getting to that stage at Grand Slam level following Wimbledon in 2025.

Her Middle East swing was a setback, losing in the first round in all three events on show. The 24-year-old found some form in the Merida Open. The former champion ended up losing to the eventual winner Cristina Bucsa in the quarter-final stage.

She won a single match in both Sunshine swing events before qualifying for the Stuttgart Open. This would end painfully. She was 5-1 up in the third set but would be on the end of a brutal comeback by Leylah Fernandez, losing a tiebreak. This was a painful blow, but she soon recovered by making the third round in the Madrid Open before a second round showing in a debut Rome Open campaign boosted her into the top 60 in the world.

Sonmez is a very promising tennis player on the WTA Tour who has still got gears to shift up. She is currently taking a well-earned week off ahead of competing at Roland Garros for the third time. A brace of first round exits in 2024 and 2025 will be hoped to be bettered. Sonmez has won her opening match in all three major tournaments since last playing in Paris. Any result will see more points go on the board.

She will then need to defend the points won at Wimbledon in that third round run. There are WTA 1000 competitions that she is defending nothing at. Most notably the Canadian Open, Cincinnati Open and Wuhan Open. Sonmez did compete in the China Open last year, making it to the third round. Overall, this is just the beginning for Sonmez who will seek out numerous chances to bump that ranking up and set a higher benchmark in Turkish tennis.