Alex Eala dropped in the World Tennis Association (WTA) singles ranking following a sorry finish in a tournament in Poland last week.

From a career-high No. 280, the 17-year-old scholar at the Rafael Nadal Tennis Academy dropped to 291 after making an exit in the Round of 32 of the W100 Grodzisk Mazowiecki in Poland.

Eala suffered a 4-6, 3-6 loss to Katharina Hobgarski of Germany, who is No. 240 in the WTA ranking, in her very first W100 event in Poland.

Polish powerhouse Iga Swiatek, however, still remains at No. 1 while Anett Konaveit of Estonia, Paula Badosa, Maria Sakkari of Greece and Ons Jabeur of Turkey are at the second, third, fourth and fifth spots.

Filipino-Canadian Leylah Fernandez climbed to No. 13.

Still, sitting at No. 291 is already an accomplishment for Eala.

In fact, she started her professional career at No. 1183 in 2020 before slowly climbing her way up following a string of strong performances, including a pair of professional titles.

She reached her peak at No. 280 on 1 August after her semifinal finish in the W25 El Espinar/Segovia in Spain.

Her latest finals appearance was at the W60 Madrid final last June, where she suffered a 4-6, 5-7 to hometown bet Marina Bassols Ribera.

Eala is currently back in Mallorca, Spain with her older brother Miko, a varsity tennis player from Penn State, in preparation for her next tournament.