Eala eyes top 30 WTA ranking return

March 27 ------ LOSING 270 ranking points after a round of 16 exit at the WTA 1000 Miami Open, Alex Eala dropped to 45th place with 1,255 total ranking points at the live rankings.

Currently No. 29, Eala will fall to that 45th place (could be a little higher or lower) once the official rankings gets updated next week. The 20-year-old dropped 270 ranking points after her 390-point semifinal haul last year expired and was replaced by 120 from this season’s round of 16 finish.

Eala fell to Karolina Muchova, 0-6, 2-6, to exit the Miami Open Tuesday midnight in Manila. Eala will break back to top 30, though, if she manages a semifinal finish at the start of her clay season in the 500-tier Linz Open in Austria this April 6 to 12. Unlike in Miami where she had to offset 390, Eala had zero ranking points to defend at Linz this time as she wasn't competing at any event in the same tournament week last year.

Hence, any points she will gain from her Linz debut this year will be an automatic net gain. A semifinal finish at Linz will give Eala 195 points which will elevate her total to 1,450, most likely enough to reach the top 30 anew. The current top 30 player in the official rankings is Cristina Bucsa of Spain who has 1,446. Of course, it gets better for Eala if she reaches the final or even wins the whole Linz tournament.

A runner-up finish offers 325 points while a title run gives full 500 points. If Eala ends up second, she will improve to 1580 ranking points which would catapult her to a new career-best rank of No. 26. The current No. 26 player Zheng Qinwen of China has 1,553 points in the official rankings. If Eala rules the Linz tournament, she will get a total of 1,755 ranking points which would be good for another career-best No. 23.

The current No. 23 player Emma Raducanu of Great Britain, the 2021 US Open champ, has 1,680 points in the official rankings. A quarterfinal finish (108 points) would only get Eala to the 34th to 36th ranking range, while a round of 16 (60 points) or round of 32 (1 point) exit won't move the needle for the Filipino sensation.

Source: manilatimes.net