Eala’s rating drops to No. 45

Alex Eala absorbed a big drop in the latest Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings.

The 20-year-old Eala fell from her previous-best rank of No. 29 to No. 45 after she failed to defend all 390 points in her Miami Open campaign last 23 March.

Eala made it to the Round of 16 of this prestigious WTA 1000 event before losing to world No. 11 Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic, 0-6, 2-6.

Back-to-back Miami Open champion Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus remains on top of the WTA rankings while Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan sits at No. 2.

Miami Open finalist Coco Gauff of the United States improved to No. 3 while Janice Tjen of Indonesia sat at No. 41.

Despite the dip in rankings, the Rafael Nadal Academy alumna isn’t worried as she is confident she will be able to bounce back in the clay season.

“I know I’ve been taking the right steps and approaching it in the right way in terms of what I need to do on court. So that gives me more calm,” Eala said.

Eala won't have to wait long to get back to start earning points as she will start her clay season with two WTA 500 events.

Eala will begin her journey in clay at the Upper Austria Ladies Linz Open at the Design Center Linz from 9 to 16 April.

Then, she will go to Stuttgart, Germany for the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix from 13 to 19 April.

Eala will be getting ready for high-level tournaments such as the Madrid Open, Italian Open and the French Open.