Austrian youngster Lilli Tagger is set to break into the top 100 of the WTA Rankings following her brilliant run on home soil at the Linz Open.

The 18-year-old started the 2025 season at No 773 in the rankings, but finished the year at No 159 and now four months into the 2026 campaign she is set to make the jump into the top 100 on the back of reaching the quarter-final in Linz.

Her run at the WTA 500 event started off with a wildcard entry into the main draw and she kicked off her tournament with a 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) win over former world No 2 Paula Badosa before upsetting third seed and former world No 12 Liudmilla Samsonova.

Up next is fellow Austrian and world No 97 Anastasia Potapova, a player who has peaked at No 21 in the rankings, but she is already assured of cracking the top 100 for the first time.

Who Is Tagger?

Born 17 February 2008, Tagger hails from Lienz, Austria,

Tagger made her breakthrough in 2025 when she captured her first ITF Circuit singles title in Terrassa, Spain, defeating French star Lois Boisson in straight sets in the final.

That set her on the way for a standout campaign at the French Open Girls’ singles tournament as she became the first Austrian player to win a junior girls’ singles Grand Slam title.

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The youngster didn’t drop a single set en route to the final, beating Great Britain’s Hannah Klugman 6-2, 6-0 to win the title.

The teen went on to win three more ITF titles, but her big breakthrough came at the Jiangxi Open in November as she was handed a wildcard for her WTA Tour debut.

She made the most of the opportunity as she became the first player born in 2008 to reach a WTA final before losing against Anna Blinkova, but her run helped her to surge from No 235 to No 156 in the rankings.

Her Coaches

The teenager is currently being mentored by 2010 French Open champion Francesca Schiavone and Lorenzo Frigerio, who previously coached Petra Martic from Croatia.

Tagger has been part of the Schiavone Team Lab, which is based in Varese, Italy, since the age of 15.

“I think she knows the game very, very well. She understands me, of course, very well, as well as the one-handed backhand, the game style,” Tagger said of Schiavone during an interview with WTATennis.com in February.

“She’s very strong there, so she helps me a lot. But I think it’s more the mental part. She has helped me a lot in the last year and I’m super happy to have her.”

The youngster – then ranked No 128 – added: “If you had told me 12 months ago that this is where I would be, I would not believe you.”

Two months later and she is set to jump 20 places to No 97 in the rankings and that is surely just a sign of things to come.