Filipina tennister Alex Eala moves up in the WTA rankings even as she suffered an early loss in the Australian Open qualifiers.
Philippine tennis sensation Alex Eala moved further up the WTA rankings, achieving a new career high even as she exited the Australian Open qualifiers early last week.
Eala, 19, moved up two places to World No. 136 after opening the year at No. 138. She jumped a number of spots after the new year when she reached her first-ever WTA semifinal at the WTA 125 Canberra before the Grand Slam in Melbourne.
The Rafa Nadal Academy scholar thus moved a total of 11 spots since her year-end ranking of World No. 147 on the week of December 30.
In the Australian Open qualifiers, Eala stumbled against Croatian Jana Fett, 7-5, 6-2, as she continued to chase her first appearance in a Grand Slam main draw.
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During her junior career, Eala won the Girls’ Doubles tournament in Melbourne back in 2020.
Eala is a two-time Girls’ Doubles tournament winner in the juniors and also a Girls’ Singles champion in the US Open back in 2022. She won her second Girls’ Doubles trophy in the French Open in 2021.
As a professional, Eala has five singles titles in the ITF Circuit. She has yet to win in a WTA tiff.
In doubles, she also has three titles in ITF tournaments.
In 2024, Eala won three ITF doubles titles and one ITF singles title to highlight her year.
She also came one win away from the Grand Slam main draw multiple times in 2024, but fell short in the final qualifying match each time.