By Leobert Julian A. de la Peña
Filipina tennis superstar Alex Eala is now the world’s no. 143 ranked doubles player of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) confirmed on July 22, 2024.
Four days after setting her new career-high in doubles after advancing to the championship stage of the International Tennis Federation (ITF) Spain 24A in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain, Eala climbed 12 spots higher to reset her new achievement following a title-clinching campaign together with her French partner Estelle Cascino.
The dynamic pairing carried their momentum from their dominant sweeping win in the semifinals and fended off the tough challenge from Diana Marcinkevica and Lia Karatancheva- 6.3, 2.6, 10.4- to reign supreme in another ITF grand final stage.
It was a huge improvement to Eala’s doubles playing career after only being ranked as the world no. 302 by the WTA five months ago.
Following a series of ITF semifinal appearances and the championship title in Vitoria-Gasteiz, Eala improved 159 places higher, her biggest achievement in her rankings since turning professional.
However, it wasn’t an easy path to where Eala is right now after surviving tons of tough matchups in her recent tournament outings.
Despite entering most of the ITF circuits as a huge underdog, Eala kept on striving and showed the world what she is made of after scoring upset after upset against her higher-ranked opponents.
Aside from her brilliance in the doubles category, Eala also shone in the singles event, taking home the championship to cap off her ITF Spain 24A campaign with twin crowns.
Eala beat Andorran star Victoria Jimenez Kasintseva- 6.4, 6.4- on July 21, 2024, to wrap up her dominance while also improving her singles ranking to world no. 208.
