By MARK REY MONTEJO
Following a couple of early exits, Alex Eala has dropped to No. 47 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings Tuesday, Feb. 17.
The 20-year-old Eala fell to her current spot – no thanks to her quick exit in WTA 1000 Qatar Open in Doha – with 1,227 points after securing her career-best No. 40 last week, making her one of the high-ranking players in Asia and in its Southeast region.
She is now behind her former Abu Dhabi Open doubles partner Indonesian Janice Tjen who sat at No. 46 (1,236). The Indonesian stunned Filipina-Canadian Leylah Fernandez, 7-6(5), 6-4, in the WTA 1000 Dubai Tennis Championships in the UAE.
Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka (10,870), Polish Iga Swiatek (7,803), Kazakh Elena Rybakina (7,523), and Americans Coco Gauff (6,423), and Jessica Pegula (5,888) completed the Top Five.
But based on the live rankings, the Filipina lefty is at No. 41 and it could go further based on the result of her match against world No. 8 Italian Jasmine Paolini in the second round of the aforementioned tournament early Wednesday (Philippine time)
There, Eala has a quick route to Round of 32 after her American rival Hailey Baptiste suffered an abdominal pain in the second set of their opener, 6-4, 0-1 (ret).
It turned out to be the first collision between Eala and Paolini, a two-time Grand Slam finalist and a force to reckon with in the doubles events.
A win for Eala could arrange her a Last 16 clash against world No. 14 Czech Linda Noskova or No. 32 Romanian Sorana Cirstea, who bested the Filipina in their first encounter, 3-6, 7-6, 6-4, in Madrid Open almost two years ago.
Last Monday night, Eala with her unprecedented feat as a Filipino athlete was named as Athlete of the Year – shared with two-time Olympic gold medalist gymnast Carlos Yulo – in the annual PSA Awards Night.
