May 8 ------ THE rise continues for Philippine tennis player Alex Eala as she reached a career high in the WTA rankings this week at world No. 162, thanks to a decent showing in the Madrid Open last month. Eala, 18, moved up eight places from her ranking last April 22 of 170th after reaching the Round of 64 at the WTA 1000 event.
The Filipina tennister took what was arguably the biggest win of her pro career with a three-set upset of world No. 41 Lesia Tsurenko in the Round of 128 in Madrid. She also came close to another upset over Sorana Cirstea, WTA No. 30, in the next round but fell in three sets.
Almost but not quite
Eala narrowly missed a gigantic clash with World No. 1 Iga Swiatek who went on to win the tournament. Still, the Rafa Nadal Academy scholar’s campaign in Madrid was more than productive as she rose seven places above her previous program best ranking at 169th. Eala is more than 20 slots clear of her ranking at the beginning of the year, where she started at No. 185 on New Year’s Day.
Source: spin.ph