Janice Tjen becomes first Indonesian woman to be ranked in the Top 40 since Basuki in 1998

Three weeks ago, Janice Tjen broke into the Top 50, rising from No. 59 to No. 47 after a second-round showing at the Australian Open.

It was a historic achievement, as she became the first Indonesian woman to be ranked in the Top 50 this century—and just the second to achieve the feat in WTA rankings history, after Yayuk Basuki, who was ranked in the elite throughout the 1990s, peaking at No. 19 in 1997.

Well, it didn’t take long for her to break into the next ranking class.

Today, just three weeks after that Top 50 debut, Tjen cracks the Top 40, jumping from No. 46 to No. 36 after reaching the round of 16 in Dubai.

She’s now the highest-ranked Indonesian woman since Basuki was ranked No. 35 in the world during the two weeks of the 1998 US Open, the weeks of August 31st and September 7th of that year.

On this day a year ago, Tjen was ranked No. 391.

Tjen only just started playing at tour-level at the end of last summer.

She played her first main draw at this level at the US Open, reaching the second round, and in the weeks that followed already reached her first WTA final in Sao Paulo, Brazil and won her first WTA title in Chennai, India.

Last week, she reached the round of 16 at a WTA 1000 event for the first time in her career in Dubai, eventually falling to Amanda Anisimova.

But if the players she’s beaten along the way are anything to go by, it could be just a matter of time before she breaks into the Top 30, and beyond—she’s already had four career wins over Top 30 players, her first one coming at last year’s US Open (No. 25 Veronika Kudermetova) and three more this year at the Australian Open (No. 23 Leylah Fernandez), Abu Dhabi (No. 29 Maya Joint) and Dubai (a No. 29-ranked Fernandez).

The 23-year-old Tjen is back in action this week at the WTA 500 event in Merida, Mexico, where she’s the No. 6 seed. She’ll take on former Top 40 player Camila Osorio in a first-time meeting in the first round.

Next week, she’ll make her career debut at Indian Wells.