After competing in the Indian Wells Open, Alex Eala shared moments from her trip to Santa Monica, California. (Photo from Alex Eala/Instagram)
SANTA MONICA, California — Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala has given crisis-stricken Filipinos reason to hope for better days as the country’s rising star—now ranked 29 in the world as of March 16, 2026—gets another debut in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open in Europe to kick off her clay season to follow her grand return to the Miami Open this week.
Scheduled from April 6 to 12 in Linz, Austria, Eala was among those announced in the tournament’s player list with the 20-year-old from Quezon City making it to the main draw alongside Top 20 players Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia (No. 11), Clara Tauson of Denmark (No. 17) and Liudmila Samsonova of Russia (No. 19).
Arguably, Eala is No. 32 in the world rankings, projected to rise to a new career-best of No. 28 according to live rankings, thanks to a Last 16 finish in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) 1000 Indian Wells Open last week.
Tagged as a 500-level tour, the Linz Open will be Eala’s second WTA 500 tourney after a quarterfinal finish in Abu Dhabi, where she absorbed a 6-3, 6-3 defeat to Alexandrova. But before the Austrian tourney, however, the Filipina tennis ace has yet to make the most out of the hardcourt season with a goal of another deep campaign in Miami, a 1000-level tour.
Listed among the Top 32 seeds in Miami for a first-round bye like what she had in the Indian Wells, where she gained 120 additional points, Eala needs to protect the 390 ranking points to stay in the Top 30. Otherwise, she would lose her points upon its expiration to significantly drop in the rankings all the way to Top 50 and 60 like where she started the season.
So, currently with 1,542 points, the country’s pride might return to 1,142 points if she does not replicate a Final Four finish or higher.
