By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alex Eala climbed to a career-high No. 136 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) world rankings Monday, Jan. 13.
Eala, 19, improved two rungs better in the list in spite of an early exit in the Australian Open qualifiers, although she entered the semifinal round of WTA Canberra.
That gave her 533 points.
The Asiad double bronze medalist bowed to China’s Wei Sijia (7-5, 6-2) in Canberra then she suffered the same fate to Croatia’s Jana Fett in the first qualifying round of Aussie Open.
She also became the highest ranking Southeast Asian so far, besting her regional rival Mananchaya Sawangkaew of Thailand (532), who is lurking behind at 137th.
Multi-champions Belarus’ Aryna Sabalenka (9,656), Poland’s Iga Swiatek (8,120), USA’s Coco Gauff (6,888), Italy’s Jasmine Paolini (5,399) and China’s Qinwen Zheng (5,325) entered the list’s Top Five.
In the second week of December 2024, Eala managed to breach inside the world’s Top 150 netters as she grabbed the No. 149 spot before further moving up in the ladder.
The charming tennis star almost made it in the main draw of US Open, Wimbledon and Roland Garros.
Eala is a five-time ITF singles and three-time doubles champion and is still gunning for her first in WTA.
A US Open’s girls singles champion in 2022, Eala holds her head high and eyeing for another fruitful year.
“Disappointed to say the least, but that’s tennis – constantly falling down and picking yourself up, week by week, believing one day you’ll end up on top,” Eala recently wrote on her social media post.
