By MARK REY MONTEJO
Alex Eala soared to a career-high No. 56 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) live rankings following her impressive run in the ongoing Lexus Eastbourne Open in Great Britain.
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Eala, 20, catapulted from No. 74 last week to jump inside the Top 60 after barging into her first WTA final at the expense of Frenchwoman Varvara Gracheva, 7-5, 2-6, 6-3.
The win arranged Eala a championship date with Australian Maya Joint, who overcame Anna Blinkova, 6-4, 7-5, in the other semis pairing.
The match will be shown live on Premier Sports 2 on Blast TV PH at 8:30 p.m.
A title victory for the Filipino would even pushed her career rankings higher.
Eala joins fellow Asian players inside the Top 60 that include China’s Qinwen Zheng (No. 6) and Xinyu Wang (No. 32). As well as Kazakhstan’s Elena Rybakina (No. 11) and Yulia Putintseva (No. 33) and Japan’s Naomi Osaka (No. 53).
Leylah Fernandez, a Canadian with Filipino descent, meanwhile, is at No. 38.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka, Coco Gauff, Jessica Pegula, Iga Swiatek and Jasmine Paolini remain in the Top 5.
Eala, who is also double bronze medalist at the Asian Games, is also scheduled to compete in the Wimbledon Championships where she is drawn with defending champion Barbora Krejcikova in the opening round.
