Eala faces Germany’s Siegemund in second round of Miami Open

IT IS SHOWTIME for the Filipina tennis star in Miami.

Alexandra “Alex” Eala, at the jaws of an enormous pressure to protect her spot inside the Top 30, tussles with German ace Laura Siegemund in Round 2 of the Miami Open at the Hard Rock Stadium on Thursday in Florida.

The 20-year-old wunderkind faces a daunting task of replicating a final four finish she achieved last year or lose the precious rankings points of up to 390 for a projected drastic, free fall in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) list.

Ms. Eala currently sits at No. 29 with 1525 points for her new career-best following a Last 16 finish in the Indian Wells Open and 390 of those will expire at the close of the tourney as per WTA’s one-year ruling on ranking points.

Standing in between Ms. Eala and the retention of those points is a total of four wins to get into the semifinals starting against the 38-year-old German, WTA No. 53, following her 6-4, 6-4 sweep of No. 76 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, at a still to-be-determined game time on Thursday (Manila time).

Ms. Siegemund is a doubles specialist with career-high ranking of No. 4 laced by two WTA titles and three Grand Slam crowns (women’s and mixed). She’s also a quarterfinalist in the Tokyo Olympics.

And that should be enough warning on how steep the climb it would be for Ms. Eala, despite being ranked higher and seeded at No. 31 with a first-round bye.

It’s a full circle for the left ace, playing in the main draw right away with a bye after rising from being a wildcard qualifier last year to final four marked by wins against Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek of Poland, Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Madison Keys of the United States to collect the said massive points — and more importantly barge into world’s Top 100.

At stake for Ms. Eala in Round 2 is only 35 ranking points plus 10 in Round 1, which would still be a far cry from the 390-point needed to stay in the Top 30.

To reach that, Ms. Eala has to score three more wins projectedly against world No. 3 Ms. Swiatek by the third round, No. 14 Karolina Muchova of Czechia or No. 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark by Round 4 and then either world No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada or No. 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the quarterfinals.

A total of 65, 120 and 215 points are up for grabs in Rounds 3, 4 and quarterfinals, respectively.

And that’s the only time Ms. Eala could reach 390, regardless of the result in the semifinals against possibly her good friend and world No. 4 Coco Gauff or No. 6 Amanda Anisimova of the United States to complete the lower bracket.

Either reigning champion and world No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan are expected to come out of the upper bracket for a slot in the finale.

Otherwise, Ms. Eala is projected to fall all the way to 1135 points, good at around Top 50-60 for a scratch at an unfortunate time when she’s about to crack Top 20.

It’s a long shot for Ms. Eala and as titanic is the hurdle is with the presence of Top 10-20 players and Grand Slam champions in her way, she’s ready now more than ever.

“I know that I belong here,” she beamed.

“It doesn’t matter if I win the tournament in Miami or if I lose in the first round. I know I’m here and I’m here to stay.” — John Bryan Ulanday