Alex Eala soars to new career-best 51st in WTA rankings

MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis ace Alexandra 'Alex' Eala continues her steady climb at the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) official rankings.

In the latest update on Monday, Eala rose by two notches to hit a new career-best 51st rank ahead of her singles campaign at the Hong Kong Open in China.

Eala retained her 1,131 total ranking points from last week which means she neither gained nor lost any points from this week last year.

It could also mean that she simply has no points to defend at this week from last year and her slight rise is a result of the other players losing their respective points and thus dipping in the rankings, enabling Eala's rise.

Eala's 1,131 points is tied with the 50th ranked in Russian Anastasia Potapova, though, albeit 41 lower than the 49th best in Czech Katerina Siniakova.

The 20-year-old Eala was supposed to begin her singles campaign on Monday at the Hong Kong Open which stands as her last tournament of the season.

Eala's round of 32 match against British Katie Boulter was moved to Tuesday.

The lefty Eala was set to see action on the doubles side on Monday afternoon, though, with Taiwanese partner Chan Hao-ching.

Eala and Chan were set to face the Russian-Balarusian duo of Kamilla Rakhimova and Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the opener.

Eala last saw action at the Guangzhou Open where she made her third straight early exit in the singles division after falling to American Claire Liu, 6-2, 4-6, 4-6, last Tuesday.

The lefty netter reached the semifinals in the doubles side of the tournament with Ukrainian partner Nadiia Kichenok, though.

Eala and Kichenok fell to the Polish-Indonesian duo of Katarzyna Piter and Janice Tjen in the final four on Saturday, 7-6(4), 3-6, 5-10.

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