FILIPINA tennis ace Alex Eala — ALEX EALA FB PAGE
ALEX Eala soared to a new-career high in the women’s professional circuit after a quarterfinal finish in the elite W80 Rancho Santa Fe in California over the weekend.
From No. 281 last week, Ms. Eala jumped 29 notches to climb at No. 252 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings, thanks to magnificent run in her first $80,000 competition.
Eala, only 17 years old, impressed in Santa Fe that featured higher-ranked players with four wins in the qualifying draw and the main tilt.
She swept the qualifiers against Latvia’s Deniza Marcinkevica and USA’s Alana Smith before besting American Dalayna Hewitt and Canadian Katherine Sebov to make the Last 8.
The Filipina pride then missed out on a Final Four seat with a 6-2, 7-5 loss to Mexican Marcela Zacarias.
Ms. Eala, whose previous career-best was at No. 280 back in August, also reached the second round of the W60 Templeton in California last month.
In the International Tennis Federation (ITF) junior rankings, Ms. Eala is currently at No. 33 after becoming the first Filipino to win the US Open junior championships in New York.
Ms. Eala is also a holder of two doubles Grand Slams in the juniors (2020 Australian Open, 2021 French Open) on top of her two pro titles in W15 Manacor in Spain and 2022 W25 Chiang Rai in Thailand. — J.B. Ulanday