ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA is projected to earn her best seeding ever in a 1000-level WTA Tour.
Fresh from a Round of 16 finish in Toronto, Ms. Eala could land as the No. 17 seed in the WTA 1000 Cincinnati Open main draw according to the WTA on Tuesday, pending last-minute player movements.
The official seedings and draw of the 128-player field will be announced on Wednesday (Manila time) after the qualifying round.
The Top 32 seeds, led by No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka, No. 2 Elena Rybakina, No. 3 Jessica Pegula, No. 4 Coco Gauff and No. 5 Mirra Andreeva, will have a first-round bye in the main draw starting on Thursday.
Ms. Eala is ranked No. 20 in the WTA world rankings but could be seeded higher owing to the withdrawal of higher-ranked players like No. 6 Karolina Muchova of Czechia, No. 12 Victoria Mboko of Canada and No. 15 Jasmine Paolini of Italy due to injuries.
The 21-year-old Filipina was the No. 25 seed in the National Bank Open in Toronto, Canada, also a WTA 1000 tourney, where she reached the fourth round last week after beating WTA No. 71 Alycia Parks and WTA No. 70 Caty McNally, both from the United States.
Those wins extended the longest streak of her young professional career (seven wins) and the longest active among all players in the WTA Tour at the time.
Her campaign ended with a 4-6, 0-6 defeat to former Olympic champion, world No. 14 and No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic of Switzerland.
Before Toronto, Ms. Eala was also the No. 29 seed in the Wimbledon as the first Filipina player to ever get a seeding in a Grand Slam main draw en route to a solid Round of 16 finish — the highest finish in history by any player from the Philippines.
Ms. Eala, then still No. 28 in the world rankings, was unseeded in the WTA 500 Mubadala DC Open with fewer top seeds but defied the odds by beating a stacked opposition bannered by a finale win against No. 1 seed Ms. Pegula of USA for her first WTA Tour title.
She previously had higher seeds, including being No. 1, but in lower-tier tours like the WTA 250 and the 125 challenger tournaments.
Back in Toronto, Ms. Eala nursed a minor ankle injury but assured that she’s fine and ready to plunge back to action in Cincinnati with hopes of a good showing for a much-needed final buildup to the US Open on Aug. 30 to Sept. 13 in Flushing Meadows, New York.
“I’m going to try to recover and come back out hot. I’ll be back,” said Ms. Eala, who is having a short vacation in Toronto to celebrate her first title back from D.C. before flying back to the US.
Included in the quick break is getting a new haircut and nails, which she will parade in Cincinnati for an added charm behind a legion of Filipino fans once more. — John Bryan Ulanday