Courtesy: WTA
Alex Eala reached another career milestone after breaking into the WTA Top 20 for the first time, following her maiden WTA Tour singles title at the Washington Open.
In the latest WTA rankings released on Tuesday (August 4), Eala climbed eight places to a career-high No. 20 from No. 28 after earning 500 ranking points—the biggest single-tournament haul of her career. The title victory boosted her total to 2,106 ranking points.
The latest jump also marked Eala’s biggest rise in the rankings since February, when she surged from No. 47 to No. 31 after reaching the quarterfinals of the Dubai Tennis Championships in the United Arab Emirates.
The 21-year old rising star completed a breakthrough in this WTA 500 event with a come-from-behind 4-6, 6-4, 6-love triumph over American world no.3 and top seed Jessica Pegula in the rain-delayed finale.
From 6-4, 4-3 behind, Eala wrestled control away and never looked back, winning the last nine games, including a 6-love third set where she dropped just eight points enroute to avenging her 2025 Miami semis loss to Pegula.
The win, Eala’s seventh against Top 10 this season, handed her the biggest paycheck of 252 thousand dollars or 15.3 million pesos.
Fresh off her breakthrough triumph in Washington, Eala has quickly turned her attention to the WTA 1000 Canadian Open, which runs through August 13.
Seeded 25th, the Filipina received a first-round bye and advanced directly to the round of 64, already improving on her 2025 campaign, when she exited in the opening round after a three-set loss to Czech Republic’s Markéta Vondroušová.
Eala will open her campaign against American world No. 71 Alycia Parks on Wednesday (August 5) at the Sobeys Stadium in Toronto.
This will be a rematch of their 2026 Australian Open first-round clash, where Parks defeated Eala 0-6, 6-3, 6-2 last January in Melbourne.
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