New milestone for No. 17 Eala

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala continues to break new ground not only for the Philippines but also for women’s tennis in all of Southeast Asia.

The 21-year-old Pinay ace climbed to No. 17 in the latest Women’s Tennis Association world rankings released yesterday – a new career best that cemented her status as the highest-ranked Filipino and SEA female player in history.

Eala’s new position, from 19th the previous week, enabled her to reset the old mark of No. 18. She hit 18th in August after a hot start to her North American campaign, surpassing the previous Asean standard of No. 19 shared by Yasuk Basuki of Indonesia and Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.

This new milestone, achieved after a quarterfinal finish at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo, bodes well as Eala vies in her final WTA event in Hong Kong.

The lefty star is set to open her campaign at the WTA250 Hong Kong Open against American star Alycia Parks in the Round of 32 today.