No slowing down Alex Eala’s ascent despite early exits
The Philippines’ Alexandra Eala reacts during her round of 64 match against Poland’s Iga Swiatek REUTERS/Juan Medina
MANILA, Philippines–The wins may have been paltry as of late but Alex Eala remains on the rise in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.
As per the WTA live rankings, Eala is expected to soar to world. No. 64 from her previous best of 70.
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The 19-year-old Eala has been dubbed one of the rising stars in the sport following her historic campaign at the Miami Open last March.
That breakthrough saw Eala take down one Grand Slam champion after another beating the likes of Madison Keys and former world No. 1 Iga Swiatek to reach the semifinal round.
Eala, however, hasn’t had much success since then with a string of early exits on clay.
She suffered a round-of-16 setback despite being the tournament top seed at Oeiras Ladies Open in Portugal last month.
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Eala then, failed to pull off an encore against Swiatek, who exacted revenge with a 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 loss in the second round of the Madrid Open less than three weeks ago.
Her Italian Open singles campaign didn’t last long as well after a crushing 0-6, 1-6 defeat to soon-to-be world No. 24 Marta Kostyuk of Ukraine on Thursday.
Eala, though, is still in Rome seeing action in doubles with Coco Gauff. The duo of Eala and Gauff are through to the round-of-16 after a smashing start on Saturday night (Manila time).
