Eala rises to No. 18, becomes Southeast Asia's highest-ranked female player

Alex Eala carved out another historic milestone in her flourishing career, rising to a career-high No. 18 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

The 20-year-old Filipina star jumped two notches from No. 20 ahead of the US Open scheduled this week where she is slated to compete in the singles and the mixed doubles with Canadian Felix Auger Aliassime.

Eala’s latest ranking made her the highest ranked female player from Southeast Asia in history, surpassing the previous feat of Indonesia’s Yayuk Basuki and Thailand’s Tamarine Tanasugarn, who both ranked as high as No. 19.

Basuki reached her career-best ranking in October 1997. During that year, she finished in the quarterfinals of the Wimbledon and the second round of the US Open.

She retired in 2013.

Tanusagarn, for her part, matched Basuki’s feat in May 2002. A quarterfinalist of the 2008 French Open, she had four singles and eight doubles career titles before retiring in 2020.

Eala’s latest feat is expected to boost her campaign in the final Grand Slam of the season, where she hopes to surpass her best Grand Slam showing -- a fourth-round finish at Wimbledon a few months ago.

She will first plunge into action in the mixed doubles, teaming up with Auger-Aliassime against married tennis couple Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina in the opening round.

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