Eala ascends to career-best 143rd in world tennis rankings
ALEX EALA rose to a career-best ranking of No. 143 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) after winning two titles in Spain.
Ms. Eala jumped 12 places from her previous career high of No. 155 last week.
The Filipina started at No. 1180 upon entering the women’s circuit in 2020 at the peak of her junior career. In the juniors, she peaked at No. 2 in the world rankings.
She also jumped 37 places in the doubles, ranking 208th from 245th last week.
Ms. Eala won both the singles and doubles tournaments of the elite W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain over the weekend.
Ms. Eala, 19, first bagged the doubles title with long-time partner Estelle Cascino of France following a 6-3, 2-6, 10-4 win over Bulgaria’s Lia Karatancheva and Latvia’s Diana Marcinkevica in the final.
It’s the third pro doubles title for Ms. Eala and she all won it this year. She and Ms. Cascino also won the W75 Croissy-Beaubourg in France in March while Ms. Eala partnered with Latvia’s Darja Semenistaja in winning the W50 Pune in India in January.
Later on, the No. 5 seed Ms. Eala rounded out her weekend by drubbing No. 7 seed Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva of Andorra, 6-4, 6-4, for her fifth pro singles crown without losing a single set in the tournament.
Ms. Kasintseva was the former world No. 1 player in the girls’ circuit, just ahead of Eala, before their encounter in the women’s play this time. — John Bryan Ulanday
