ALEX EALA zoomed to a new career-best in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings despite an early exit in the qualifying round of the 2025 Australian Open.
From No. 147 to start the New Year, Ms. Eala leaped nine spots to No. 138 to continue her ascend among the world’s best tennis players at only 19 years of age.
Her previous career-high was at No. 143 last year after completing a twin title in singles and doubles tournaments of the W100 Vitoria-Gasteiz in Spain.
The budding Filipina star absorbed a 7-5, 6-2 defeat at the hands of seasoned Croatian Jana Fett in Round 1 of the Australian Open on Tuesday at Melbourne Park.
Prior to that though, Ms. Eala made her first WTA 125 tourney semifinal finish in the Workday Canberra International that accounted the most for her ranking improvement.
Unranked and unseeded in Canberra as part of her Australian Open preparations, Ms. Eala clawed all the way from the qualifiers to the Final Four to start her season with a bang.
She strung five straight wins before losing to China’s Sijia Wei, 7-5, 6-2.
The Australian Open, where Ms. Eala was a previous junior champion, was her first major tournament this season, in which she hoped to etch history by becoming the first Filipina player to make it to a Grand Slam main draw.
She came so close to achieving in the three other majors last season — the French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open — by reaching the qualifying final but to no avail in the Land Down Under this time around. — John Bryan Ulanday
