Glushko continues to climb up rankings

The 23-year-old, who lost in Waterloo final last year, climbed 24 places and has soared a total of 65 places since the start of the year.

By ALLON SINAI
Shahar Pe'er and Julia Glushko 370 (photo credit: Photo Gadi)
Shahar Pe'er and Julia Glushko 370
(photo credit: Photo Gadi)
Julia Glushko is on the verge of entering the world’s top 100 for the first time after catapulting to a new career high of No. 105 on Monday following her run to the title at the ITF tournament in Waterloo, Canada.
After saving match points against Sacha Jones in the semifinals of the $50,000 event, Glushko defeated Gabriela Dabrowski 6-1, 6-3 in the final on Sunday to claim her second ITF title of the year.
The 23-year-old, who lost in the Waterloo final last year, climbed 24 places in Monday’s rankings and has soared a total of 65 places since the start of the year.
“I’m really happy to win the tournament after coming back from match points down in the semis,” said Glushko, who played both her quarterfinal and semifinal matches on Saturday due to the rainy weather in Waterloo. “I played consistently well in the final and it was important for me to win in two sets after Saturday’s exertion.”
Shahar Pe’er jumped 17 places to No. 162 on Monday despite failing to qualify for Wimbledon, missing her first major since the 2009 French Open, which she sat out due to injury.
For the first time in 15 years, Israel didn’t have any representatives in the singles tournaments of a Grand Slam event after Pe’er, Glushko, Dudi Sela and Amir Weintraub all came up short in their attempts to qualify for Wimbledon.
Pe’er, who failed to receive direct entry to the main draw of a Grand Slam tournament for the first time since the Australian Open in 2005 due to her lowly ranking, missed just her second major main draw in the past 34 tournaments played since making her debut at Roland Garros eight years ago.
After officially losing her status as the Israel No. 1 last month, Pe’er, who had been Israel’s top ranked women’s player since overtaking Anna Smashnova in 2006, peaking at No. 11 in January 2011, finds herself some 57 places behind Glushko.