BENCHMARK
By Tracy Cabrera
Success is the sum of small efforts – repeated day in and day out.
— American author Leo Robert Collier
Six years ago, Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala was virtually an unknown player from the Philippines, listed in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA)’s professional WTA singles ranking at World No. 1,180.
Fast forward and the 21-year-old lass from Quezon City has achieved milestones and is now currently ranked at world’ s No. 17.
The country’s pride climbed to a professional career-high after a quarterfinal finish at the Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. The rise puts her just two ranking positions outside the world’s top 15 as she heads into her next tournament in Hong Kong.
With 2,289 ranking points, Eala has surpassed her previous career best of No. 18, giving her another breakthrough in a season that continues to raise expectations for Philippine tennis.
Her Tokyo campaign offered fresh evidence of her progress as she bested Britain’s 17-year-old rising star Mika Stojsavljevic and also world No. 36 Talia Gibson of Australia before her run ended in a grueling match against Russian ace Diana Shnaider in the quarterfinals.
While a semifinal berth remained out of reach, the week still helped lift her to her highest position yet.
The Philippine Tennis Association celebrated the achievement on social media, calling it “a huge achievement” and offering an upbeat assessment of her trajectory: “Tuloy-tuloy ang pag-angat.”
Attention now shifts to whether Eala can carry that momentum into the Hong Kong Tennis Open, where she is seeded second and faces American Alycia Parks in today’s opening round.
There’s an intriguing subplot in both players’ face off as the pair split their first two meetings this year with the American winning at the Australian Open before Eala took revenge with a victory at the Canadian Open.
Their Hong Kong clash gives both players a chance to break the tie and the Filipina sensation is approaching the tournament with enthusiasm: “I’m super excited and I’m going in with high motivation.”
And her new ranking gives Filipino sports fans and other supporters as well another reason to watch her closely—something they have done in almost all of Eala’s tournaments.
