Antonia Ruzic began 2024 in the style in which she closed the previous season, winning a title – the biggest of her career to date – on the ITF World Tennis Tour at W50 Nonthaburi.

The 20-year-old Croat closed 2023 with victory at W25 Monastir and quickly rediscovered that winning feeling after the break, overcoming current junior world No. 5 Sara Saito 6-1 6-3 in the title match in Thailand for her eighth ITF singles crown overall.

The win sees her climb 33 spots in the WTA rankings to No. 211 this week, 27 spots shy of her career-high-ranking.

Saito, meanwhile, leapt 34 spots to a career-high No. 322 after reaching the biggest final of her career. It was her second women’s singles final on the ITF World Tennis Tour overall following her triumph on home soil in Japan at W25 Makinohara last October.

Saito is a hugely promising young junior talent, having climbed as high as No. 2 in the ITF girls’ rankings in May. She has collected eight titles at ITF junior level, reached the quarter-finals of the girls’ singles at the US Open in September and also finished runner-up at the 2023 ITF World Tennis Tour Junior Finals.

There were also titles for American Fiona Crawley at W35 Arcadia and Czech teenager Amelie Smejkalova at W15 Monastir this weekend.

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