Alexandra Eala of Philippines celebrates after defeating Lucie Havlickova of Czech Republic during their Junior Girl’s Singles Final match on Day Thirteen of the 2022 US Open at USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center on September 10, 2022 in the Flushing neighborhood of the Queens borough of New York City. Sarah Stier/Getty Images/AFP
MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala tallied a new career high in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings at No. 252.
The first Filipino to win a Grand Slam singles title soared 29 notches from her previous 281st ranking last week following her quarterfinal appearance in the W80 Rancho Santa Fe in California.
The 17-year-old had quite a run in her first $80,000 tournament, beating Deniza Marcinkevica of Latvia and Alana Smith of the United States in the qualifying round to reach the main draw, where she took down American Dalayna Hewitt and Katherine Sebov of Canada.
Eala, however, yielded to Marcela Zacarias of Mexico, 6-2, 7-5, in the quarterfinal.
The Rafael Nadal Academy scholar also saw action in the W60 Templeton in California where she reached the second round last September.
The US Open girls singles champion surpassed her previous career-best No. 280 last August 1.
Eala, the former World juniors No.2 in the International Tennis Federation (ITF), is currently 33rd in the division.