Briton Francesca Jones claimed her second Challenger Tour title in dominant fashion with a 6-3 6-2 win against Anouk Koevermans in Palermo.
The 24-year-old will climb to 84th in the world when the rankings are released on Monday – the first time she has featured inside the top 100.
England’s Jones lost in the first round at Wimbledon earlier this month but has since won successive Challenger Tour events on clay and is currently the fourth alternate for the main draw of next month’s US Open.
She broke her Dutch opponent to lead 5-3 and then served out to take the opening set.
Jones, who did not drop a set at the Palermo Ladies Open, carried that momentum into the second and broke again in the opening game, before going up a double break at 4-1 and sealing the success.
The Bradford-born player reached her first WTA semi-final in 2023 but struggled to build on that run and has never been beyond the first round at a Grand Slam event.
Fellow Briton George Loffhagen also enjoyed a positive end to the week with a 7-6 (7-4) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 win against Spain’s Nicolas Alvarez Varona in Segovia.
It is the first time Loffhagen, 24, has lifted a title at a Challenger Tour event.
