Janice Tjen becomes first Indonesian woman to be ranked in the Top 50 this century

Janice Tjen has made a lot of breakthroughs for her country in recent months, and today she makes another one, becoming the first Indonesian woman to be ranked in the Top 50 this century.

The 23-year-old checked off two milestones with her first-round win at this year’s Australian Open—not only did she record the biggest win of her career by ranking, over No. 23-ranked Leylah Fernandez, but she was also the first Indonesian woman to win a main-draw match in Melbourne since Yayuk Basuki in 1998.

She ended up falling to two-time Grand Slam finalist and former world No. 1 Karolina Pliskova in the second round.

But with that result, Tjen jumps 12 spots from No. 59 to No. 47 today, becoming just the second Indonesian woman to break into the Top 50 in WTA rankings history, which dates back to 1973.

The first was the aforementioned Basuki, who was ranked in the Top 50 throughout the 1990s, going as high as No. 19 in 1997. Her last week in the Top 50 was the week of November 2nd, 1998.

Tjen’s Top 50 debut is her latest in a string of breakthroughs.

By reaching the second round of last year’s US Open, she became the first Indonesian woman to win a main-draw match at a major since Angelique Widjaja at Roland Garros in 2003.

In October, she broke into the Top 100, becoming the first Indonesian woman to be ranked in the elite since Widjaja in 2004.

In November, she captured the first WTA title of her career in Chennai, India, becoming the first Indonesian woman to win a tour-level title since Widjaja in 2002—and after that run she surged from No. 82 to No. 53, surpassing Widjaja’s career-high of No. 55 to become the second-highest-ranked Indonesian player in WTA rankings history, after former No. 19 Basuki.

And this week, her latest breakthrough into the WTA Top 50.

She's competing at the WTA 500 event in Abu Dhabi this week.