over the next few years her ranking steadily improved with her first wta tour singles quarter-final coming at guaruja in 1989 and another at são paulo in 1990, beating mary pierce en route. she ended 1990 by winning three matches to make the quarter-finals at the end of year danone open in brisbane. her best wta tour performance came early in 1991 when she reached the semi-finals at auckland. at the 1991 italian open she had a win over claudia kohde-kilsch and lost a close two set match to fellow young talent jennifer capriati. later in the 1991 season she made the quarter-finals in palermo to reach her career best ranking of 70 in the world.