The 2025 Merida Open Akron welcomed the emergence of several WTA players, with Australian Maya Joint and Colombian Emiliano Arango capturing the hearts of tennis fans due to their fearless performances at the WTA 500 event.

Although American Emma Navarro left Akron with the title, the top seed was overshadowed by two rising stars. Arango, who had to battle through qualifiers to reach the main draw of the tournament, played some of the best tennis of her career to reach her maiden WTA final.

Arango, Joint climb up WTA rankings

The 24-year old Colombian was coming off a victory at a WTA 125 event in Cancun two weeks ago. Arango would extend her winning streak to 11 by reaching her first tour-level final in Merida before falling to Navarro in straight sets.

Following her performance in Merida, Arango rises 53 spots from World No.133 to No.80. She becomes the sixth Colombian player in rankings history to reach the Top 100, following Isabella Fernandez Diaz, Fabiola Zuluaga, Catalina Castaño, Mariana Duque-Mariño and Camila Osorio.

Conversely, Joint played some pretty impressive tennis to reach her first WTA 500 quarterfinal. The 18-year old looked formidable during her run in Merida, scoring her maiden top 20 win over Donna Vekic en route to the final eight. Joint rises 18 places from World No.103 to make her Top 100 debut at No.85, joining 11th-ranked Mirra Andreeva as the only two teenagers in the Top 100.

The Merida Open saw a few other players make notable moves on the WTA rankings table. Armenian Elina Avanesyan now sits at a career-high of World No.39 following a semifinal appearance at the event. Additionally, Slovakian Rebecca Sramkova reached a career high of World No.37 after making it to the quarterfinals in Merida.