Eala on track for world No. 38

Alex Eala continues to reach new heights as she is projected to soar to as high as No. 38 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) ranking following her impressive performance in the ongoing Abu Dhabi Open.

Eala, who entered the tournament at a career-best No. 45, is tipped to jump a few notches higher after advancing to the quarterfinals following a dramatic 2-6, 6-4, 7-6 win over Aliaksandra Sasnovich of Belarus in the Round of 16 of the women’s singles event early Thursday.

Based on the WTA live ranking, Eala is already at No. 38, a standing that could further improve pending the final outcome of her campaign in the Abu Dhabi event that dangles 500 ranking points to the champion.

After beating the world No. 109 Sasnovich, Eala faced the massive Filipino crowd at the Zayed Sports City International Tennis Centre to narrate the challenges she overcame just to make it to the Last Eight.

“Yeah, I think she started really well in the tight moments. She stepped up, especially on her serve, and hit a lot of winners,” Eala said.

“I really tried my best in those moments to fight — to find that fight. And in the end, when I started coming back, I think I was able to find it. I’m really proud of that.”

Eala admitted she was happy to pull off the victory despite having the odds stacked against her in the entire tournament.

But as she goes deeper in the Abu Dhabi Open, she knows she has to be at her best if she wants to clinch her first WTA 500 crown.

“There’s definitely a bit of luck involved, but I think it really came down to the match itself. There were so many moments — being down match point, or even four-love — where I could have given up, but I didn’t. I fought until the end, and I’m happy about that,” Eala said.

“I do have a long way to go. Each round becomes more of a challenge, and every match has its own unique difficulties. I’ll just try my best to recover well and prepare for the next one.”

The battle, however, is far from done as Eala is facing world No. 11 Ekaterina Alexandrova of Russia in the quarterfinals at press time.

The 31-year-old Alexandrova will be entering the match fully rested after earning a bye in the Round of 32 and pulling off a 6-3, 6-0 sweep over Dayana Yastremska of Ukraine in the Last 16.

Should Eala emerge victorious, she will face the winner between Russian netter Liudmila Samsonova and Hailey Baptiste of the United States in the semifinals.

And if plans do not miscarry, Eala could face world No. 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark in the final, bringing back the memory of her dramatic 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 win in the US Open that served as the country’s first ever victory in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.

Also happening at press time is Eala’s doubles match, where she and her partner, Janice Tjen of Indonesia, are facing Zhang Shuai of China and world No. 22 Cristina Bucsa of Spain in the quarterfinals.