Alex Eala stays hungry as she is set to play two professional tournaments in California in the coming weeks with the hope of crashing the Top 200 Women's Tennis Association, according to her Filipino coach Karl Santamaria.

"She will try to push her ranking below 200 by yearend so she can play the Australian swing in January and February and try to qualify for the Australian Open end of January," said Santamaria who is now based in Melbourne.

Eala, who turned 17 last month, is currently ranked 297, having reached a career-high 280 in August.

The young prodigy is fresh from a historic victory in the US Open girls' singles in Flushing Meadows, New York.

Eala has been on a roll since being invited as a scholar at the famed Rafael Nadal Academy in Mallorca, Spain four years ago.

She got the invite after winning the Les Petits As 2018 in France, the unofficial world championship for players 14 years and under.

Only 12, Eala defeated Czech Linda Noskova in the final.

"Nadal Academy approached Mike (Eala's father) and negotiated Alex and Miko (brother) moving to Mallorca," Santamaria recalled.

"I was all for it as this was really a great time to move to Europe if she was going to become a world-class player."

The academy is home to around 150 players at any given time and charges around $62,000 a year for tennis lessons and school. That's roughly P3.5 million.

Eala's scholarship is paid for by friends and benefactors of the academy who donate between 3 and 4 million euros for scholars a year.

"The funds are also used to pay the coaches and living expenses for the player," Santamaria said.