ALEX Eala is poised to climb higher in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings.
From a career-best no. 195, the 18-year-old Eala has gone to world no. 187, even though she lost in the opening round of the Japan Women’s Open in Osaka.
Eala, who bowed to qualifier Himeno Sakatsume of Japan, 0-6, 3-6, is already the highest-ranked female netter in Southeast Asia, better than Thailand’s Lanlana Tararudee, who is at no. 248.
Eala is no. 14 in the Asian rankings, some 11 notches behind 184th-ranked Sakatsume.
China’s Qin Wen Zhang leads the Asian rankings and is world no. 22 in the WTA live rankings, followed by Lin Zhu.
The other week, Eala was a wildcard at the Winners Open in Romania, a WTA 250 event, beating Argentine Paula Ormaechea before conceding to Egyptian Mayar Sherif in the second round.
Two weeks ago, Eala qualified for the W100 Tokyo on the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour.
In that netfest, Eala reached the second round in the singles and went all the way to the semis in the doubles, with partner Natsumi Kawaguchi.