New career-best world ranking looms for Eala

Alex Eala.

STAR / File

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is projected to reach a new high in the tennis world, regardless of her quarterfinal stint in the 2025 WTA250 Sao Paulo Open in Brazil.

Eala, unbeaten in her South American tour, is now No. 55 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings for a new all-time best barring any major movements from other players.

She accumulated 29 more points in the first two rounds to rack up her tour points to 1083 and improve from No. 61 before the Brazilian tourney.

Her previous high was at No. 56 after a runner-up finish in the WTA250 Eastbourne Open in England.

The 20-year-old Filipina was in for a Southeast Asian showdown against Indonesia’s Janice Tjen at midnight for a chance to move closer to a coveted Top-50 rankings and clinch a Final Four ticket against either No. 2 seed Solana Sierra Argentina or No. 6 seed Francesca Jones of Great Britain.

Eala so far has found no trouble in Brazil with back-to-back sweeps to extend her South American streak to seven wins since ruling the WTA125 Guadalajara Open in Mexico.

The lefty sensation clobbered WTA No. 188 Julia Riera, 6-1, 6-4, in only 77 minutes of play after making short work of WTA No. 380 Yasmine Mansouri of France, 6-0, 6-2.

Prior to that, she pocketed five consecutive wins in Guadalajara to become the first WTA Filipina champion in history, just a week after becoming the first Filipina winner in any Grand Slam main draw in the US Open.