Alex Eala set to earn coveted Wimbledon seed after return to world top 30

MANILA, Philippines – Alex Eala has come a long way from only dreaming of playing in the Wimbledon main draw to earning a coveted seed in her favorite Grand Slam.

Eala will be a seeded player in a major for the first time in her career as she climbed to No. 30 in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday, June 22.

With Wimbledon determining its seedings based on the June 22 rankings, the 21-year-old will enter the tournament as the 29th seed and will receive a first-round bye. 

Eala’s five-spot climb from No. 35 a week prior came after she reached the semifinals of the Berlin Open in Germany, where she claimed a pair of top-10 wins by stunning world No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan and No. 8 Elina Svitolina of Ukraine before she lost to No. 13 Linda Noskova of the Czech Republic. 

The Filipina gained a net of 125 points from her first final four appearance in a WTA 500 event to raise her total to 1,557 points as she leapfrogged No. 31 American Hailey Baptiste, No. 32 British Emma Raducanu, No. 33 Croatian Donna Vekic, and No. 34 Czech Katerina Siniakova.

It marked Eala’s return to the world top 30 three months after she notched a career-high No. 29 ranking in March.

Grass has brought out the best in Eala’s game as she also won her second WTA 125 title by ruling the Birmingham Open earlier this June.

Her record on the surface this year stands at 9-2.

That bodes well for Eala as she hopes to stage a deep run in Wimbledon, where she looks to bounce back after being booted out of the first round last year following a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 loss to Czech Republic’s Barbora Krejcikova. 

But before Wimbledon, Eala competes in the Bad Homburg Open — another WTA 500 tournament — that kicked off in Germany on Sunday, June 21.

Eala battles world No. 26 Elise Mertens of Belgium in singles on Monday, June 22, and teams up with American tennis legend Venus Williams in doubles on Tuesday, June 23. – Rappler.com