Alex Eala’s world ranking goes up and sets a new PH tennis record

Alex Eala’s spectacular rise continues.

The 17-year-old Eala leapt to 252nd in the most recent Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) global ranking, vaulting her into the top five of the highest-ranked Filipino tennis players in the Open era.

Before her most recent rise in the rankings, Eala had already surpassed Maricris Fernandez-23-year-old Gentz’s record as the highest-ranked female tennis player from the Philippines when she reached 280th in August of last year.

At 284th in the world, Fernandez-Gentz was the highest-ranked Filipina in history.

Just behind former Philippine men”s tennis team stars Cecil Mamiit, Eric Taino, and Felix Barrientos, Eala is currently ranked as the fourth-highest Filipino tennis player in the Open era.

In 1999, Mamiit reached a career-high 72nd in the ATP rankings after advancing to the second round of both the Australian Open and the US Open.

Taino, the 1992 US Open boys doubles champion, reached a career-high ranking of 122nd in the world in 2003, while Barrientos reached a career-high ranking of 180th in 1991.

Eala, the reigning US Open girls’ singles champion, is also the top-seeded Southeast Asian in the entire world.

Thailand’s Peangtarn Plipuech, age 29, ranked 342nd in the region, just behind Eala.

The 5-foot-9 Eala also fell out of the top 20 in Asia, landing at No. 19 on the list.

In March of last year, Eala was rated 572nd in the world. After winning her second professional title at a W25 tournament in Chiang Rai, Thailand, one month later, she climbed 161 positions to 411th.

By the end of the month of May, Eala ranked 394th in the world. Last week, she reached the quarterfinals of the W80 RSF Pro Open at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club in the United States, which led to her most recent achievement.