AFTER a much-needed and revitalizing vacation in the country, young tennis star Alex Eala will be extra motivated to resume her campaign on the WTA tour after falling 13 rungs to No. 69 in the Women’s Tennis Association world ratings yesterday.
Reaching a career-high of No. 56 more than two weeks ago, Eala, 20, was the “biggest faller” in the rankings, according to the WTA website, following her early exit in the main draw of both the women’s singles and doubles at the recent Wimbledon Open in London, England.
Other players were able to gain ground as she bowed out and advanced in the prestigious tournament that capped the grass-court season, some moving on to other meets, with veteran Romanian Elena Gabriela-Rouse, 27, now occupying her previous spot, a 2025 season-high.
The top 10 remain unchanged, bannered by Belarusian Aryna Sabalenka still at No. 1., American Coco Gauff at No. 2 and newly-crowned Wimbledon singles queen Iga Swiatek of Poland at No. 3.
The comely Pinay southpaw will try to go up the world ranks anew when she opens her hardcourt drive on Saturday (Sunday in Manila) at the start of the National Bank Open presented by Rogers, popularly known as the Canadian Open, in the French-speaking Canadian city of Montreal.
To be staged at the 12,0000-seat IGA Stadium, the meet will be the first of her back-to-back WTA 1000 tournaments and where American world No. 4 Jessica Pegula, who beat the Filipina netter in the Miami Open semifinals last March, is the defending champion.
Eala was even featured on the official National Bank Open website last week as one of the “X-Factors” in the competition.
“Eala has been the unexpected breakthrough player of 2025. She came out of nowhere in Miami, reaching the semifinals as a wildcard. She beat a pair of Top 5 players, recent Australian Open champion Madison Keys and then-world No. 2 Iga Swiatek, on her way to the final four, where she pushed fourth seed Jessica Pegula to three sets,” the website noted.
“The 20-year-old also just reached her first tour-level final last month in Eastbourne, losing an epic to fellow youngster Maya Joint in what was the youngest WTA Tour final since 1981. This could be the first chance Canadian fans get to see a future star,” added the report.
The draw for the meet, whose regular competition will start on Sunday (Monday in Manila), won’t be decided until Friday, and it would be nice if Eala gets a chance to face Fil-Canadian Leylah Fernandez, the world No. 36, for the first time along the way, although hopefully not that early.
Based on the schedule during the press conference that Eala announced last week, she returns to the US for the main draw of the Cincinnati Open, another WTA 1000 tourney, from Aug. 7 to 18 at the Linder Family Tennis Center in Mason, Ohio.
Eala then makes her foray south of the US in Mexico next, competing at the Monterrey Open, a WTA 500 meet, at the Monterrey Open slated Aug. 18 to 23 at Club Sonoma in Monterrey, Mexico, before finally heading for the Big Apple for the fourth and final Grand Slam, the 75th US Open.
The main draw of the championships will be held from Aug. 24 to Sept. 7 at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, New York.
