And to mark the breakthrough week, a quartet of Aussies have also battled through qualifying to feature in the first round of the prestigious Indian Wells tournament in California.
Heading the foursome who have qualified for the WTA 1000 event is the soaring 18-year-old Maya Joint, who's also celebrating her first week in the world top-100 after her terrific run to the quarter-finals in Merida, Mexico, last week when she hammered Wimbledon semi-finalist Donna Vekic en route.
Now up to No.85 in the world, Joint is one of only two teenagers in the leading 100, in good company with the 17-year-old Russian phenomenon Mirra Andreeva, who's surged to No.11 following her recent Dubai Championship triumph.
Joint, the US-born daughter of Melburnian squash pro Mick Joint, carried on her good work on Tuesday by beating Sweden's Mirian Bjorklund 6-2 4-6 6-3 in her second-round qualifier to set up an eminently winnable main-draw opener with Romanian veteran Sorana Cirstea in Indian Wells.
Joint is now No.2 Australian in the rankings behind Kim Birrell, who's up to 76 and looking to climb to a new career-high after surging into the first round in Indian Wells without dropping a set in qualifying.
Birrell will play another qualifier, Swiss Viktorija Golubic, the world No.101, in her first-round match.
The other two Aussies in the top-100 had very different experiences in Indian Wells.
World No.94 Ajla Tomljanovic, fresh from reaching the semi-final in Austin last week, got a second-round qualifying walkover and will play American Caty McNally in the first round.
But Olivia Gadecki, the final member of the top-100 club at No.99 -- October 2019 was the last time Australia had four players in the leading 100 at the same time -- couldn't get through qualifying, beaten in the first round by Joint's victim Bjorklund.
The fourth Australian to make it into the Indian Wells main draw is Maddison Inglis, who's also enjoying an impressive year, having won 13 of her 18 matches, but she's got a tough opening match against former Australian Open champ Sofia Kenin, the world No.28.
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