The main draw of the Australian Open hasn’t started yet but Alex Eala has already set another milestone in her career.

Fresh off her semifinal finish in the Auckland Open last week, the 20-year-old Rafael Nadal Academy alumnus reached a new career-best rank of No. 49 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), making another explosive statement to her growing legend.

Aryna Sabalenka remains the best tennis player in the world as she defeated Marta Kostyuk 6-4, 6-3, for the Brisbane Open title over the weekend.

Iga Swiatek of Poland, whom Eala defeated in the Miami Open last March, remains at No. 2 while Eala’s former tennis partner Coco Gauff of the United States rose to No. 3.

Iva Jovic, who joined forces with Eala in the Auckland Classic, jumped to No. 30 despite losing to eventual champion Elina Svitolina of Ukraine, now sitting at No. 12, 6-7, 2-6, in the Auckland Open semis last week.

Looking back on her career from 2025, Eala, whose previous best was at No. 50, has nothing but gratitude to those who helped her as she is now one of the hottest names in tennis alongside Jovic and world No. 8 Mirra Andreeva of Russia.

“The past year reminded me how powerful love, support, and community can be. Now, I’m excited for what this new year brings — new goals to chase, new memories to create, and more meaningful moments to share with the people I love,” Eala posted on her social media.

“This year is about being braver, dreaming bigger, loving harder, and doing more for the people and passions that matter most.”

In an interview with Tennis365, Eala stressed she can’t be complacent despite her newfound recognition, where she is one of the young talents like Andreeva and Jovic.

“I think I have done a good job and my team has done a good job of dealing with everything that happened after Miami,” Eala said.

“For sure, it gave me a lot of confidence to know that my level is there to play against the top players, but I know there is a lot more for me to do before I can be there consistently.”

The coming weeks will be crucial in Eala’s growth and career as her Australian Open run will determine how she will cap the first month of 2026.

Making it past at least the second round of the first Grand Slam of the year will not only eclipse her first-round US Open triumph over Clara Tauson of Denmark last August but will also propel her upwards in the WTA rankings again.

Meanwhile, an early exit wouldn’t necessarily mean a failure in Eala’s campaign as she will pocket at least $101,076 (5.9 million) and some precious ranking points.

It also means she will come home to Manila to compete in the Philippine Women’s Open on 26 January as familiar foes aim to take her down in her own backyard.

Stars like former world No. 17 and Olympic silver medalist Donna Vekic of Croatia, No. 45 Tatjana Maria of Germany as well as No. 57 Wang Xinyu of China, No. 66 Solana Sierra of Argentina, No. 90 Lulu Sun of New Zealand and No. 94 Moyuka Uchijima of Japan all want to test their mettle against Eala and the loud Filipino crowd cheering her on.

Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) chairman Patrick “Pato” Gregorio said they and the Philippine Tennis Association (Philta) are hard at work to make sure both players and fans will have nothing but the best once the competition starts.

Gregorio even extended the invitation to President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. and First Lady Liza Marcos to be part of this historic tournament.

“We invited the President and First Lady and we hope they will be available because we will be able to show the fruits of his trust in Philippine sports and National Sports Tourism Inter-Agency Committee,” Gregorio said.

“We didn’t have a holiday break. No Christmas, no New Year vacation for PSC and Philta. We really rushed the development and rehabilitation of the Rizal Memorial Sports Complex and the tennis courts.”