Eala vies in HK with career-best WTA ranking

Alex Eala will march into her final event of the season in the Hong Kong Tennis Open armed with renewed confidence after gaining her career-best ranking of No. 17 in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA).

The 21-year-old Filipina said she and her team had done a tremendous job navigating the highs and lows of her professional campaign that led to the season-ending WTA 250 tournament in the former Crown colony.

Seeded as No. 2, Eala will open her Hong Kong campaign against a familiar foe in world No. 59 Alycia Parks of the United States on Tuesday at 10 a.m. (Manila time).

“The season is very long, so it’s only natural that it goes up and down,” said Eala, who improved from No. 19 to No. 17 on Monday behind world No. 1 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, No. 2 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and No. 3 Mirra Andreeva of Russia.

“But with that being said, I’m super proud of this whole year, even the past couple of weeks, how I’ve been working, how I’ve been training; I’m super proud of that.”

True enough, Eala has been enjoying her finest season despite some minor hiccups along the way.

Her brightest moment came when she beat world No. 5 Jessica Pegula of the United States in the final of the WTA 500 Washington Open last August while reaching the fourth round of the Wimbledon Championship and the third round of the US Open.