Andorran 20-year-old Vicky Jiménez achieves career-high No

**Vicky Jiménez reaches WTA top 100 after quarter-final run at Mérida Open**

Andorran tennis player Vicky Jiménez has entered the WTA top 100 for the first time, achieving a career-high provisional ranking of 96th as of Monday. The 20-year-old earned the milestone with a strong performance at the WTA 500 Mérida Open in Mexico, where she reached the quarter-finals.

Jiménez's campaign featured a standout round-of-16 victory over Poland's Magda Linette, the world No. 47 and No. 8 seed. The match—the longest in tournament history at three hours and 23 minutes—went 7-5, 6-7(5), 7-5 in Jiménez's favour. She dropped serve twice early in the first set but rallied in the second, saving three set points to force a tie-break and draw level. Down 1-4 in the third, Jiménez turned the match around with a key break of Linette's serve, securing one of her biggest career wins, comparable only to her defeat of world No. 25 Veronika Kudermetova last September.

In the quarter-finals, Jiménez faced 37-year-old Shuai Zhang of China, ranked 86th, who had earlier upset No. 2 seed Emma Navarro of the United States. Zhang prevailed 6-1, 6-3 in one hour and 33 minutes, relying on her experience in long rallies. Jiménez converted just four of 20 break-point opportunities and struggled to hold serve, while Zhang saved 16 break points, including three match points before closing out the victory. The result mirrored Jiménez's quarter-final exit at last year's Guadalajara 500, where she held a match point before losing 6-3, 3-6, 7-6 to Iva Jovic after beating players including Kudermetova and Elena Pridankina.

Mexico continues to suit the Andorran, who rose from as low as No. 122 in the rankings. Zhang advanced to the semi-finals against Poland's Magdalena Frech.