Barely five years ago, Alex Eala was a 15-year-old prodigy from the Rafael Nadal Academy, armed with a booming forehand and a fire that refused to dim. Today, she’s cracked the Top 50 — the highest ranking ever achieved by a Filipino tennis player.
The 20-year-old wrapped up her 2025 WTA season in Hong Kong, bowing out in a gritty three-set duel against Canada’s Victoria Mboko. The loss didn’t sting for long: the 12 ranking points she earned were just enough to push her to No. 50 in the world — this time officially, not by a decimal or a tie-breaker.
Entering the Hong Kong Open, Eala sat at No. 51, despite sharing an identical 1,131 ranking points with Russia’s Anastasia Potapova. The Russian edged ahead thanks to a WTA rule that favors players who earned their points in fewer tournaments — a technicality that left Eala just one match short of history. That match came in Hong Kong, where even in defeat, she gathered the crucial dozen points to make the leap.
“This is an amazing year,” Eala said afterward, her smile bright enough to light up Victoria Harbour. “Our goal was just to break into the Top 100 — so this feels unreal.”
Unreal indeed. Eala’s 2025 has been a breakout reel: 40 wins in 66 matches, a dazzling title run in Guadalajara that secured her first WTA crown, and nearly a million dollars in prize money. Her $907,000 season haul brings her career earnings to $1.36 million — an impressive milestone for a player who began on the ITF circuit in Monastir in 2020.
Her WTA journey began as a wildcard in Romania in 2021, where she won her first tour-level match. From there, she’s risen steadily, collecting not just wins but belief — proving that a player from the Philippines can rally with the best in the world.
For context, WTA rankings are calculated based on a player’s best results in up to 18 tournaments over the past 52 weeks. These include the four Grand Slams, the top six WTA 1000 events, one non-combined WTA 1000, and a mix of seven additional events from the WTA 500, 250, and ITF circuits. Each round’s result earns points, which add up to a player’s total — and determine their global standing.
For a country better known for basketball courts and boxing gloves, Eala’s rise is a revelation. From teen wonder to Top-50 trailblazer, she’s rewritten the rules — and she’s nowhere near match point yet.
