Alex Eala continues to rise in the Women’s Tennis Association rankings.
The 18-year-old Eala, who won over Nastasja Mariana Schunk, 6-0, 6-3, to barge into the second qualifying round of the W75 Trvana International Tennis Federation (ITF) tournament in Slovakia on Monday, reached another career-high of no. 166 in the world.
With her new rankings, her total earnings rose as well, now pegged at $200,708, or roughly P11.242 million.
The Filipina tennis sensation, who was at no. 176 last week, got nearer to earning a slot in the 32-player main draw round of this $60,000 tournament.
Eala, who is set to meet Iryna Shymanovich of Belarus, moved up by 10 points in the live rankings after she reached the singles’ quarterfinals of the W50 Trnava event last week.
More points were earned after she and Turkish partner Zeynep Sonmez fought their way to the doubles’ semifinals as well.
Last week, she earned 430 points after she got past North Macedonian netter Lina Gjorchrenka, 6-4, 6-2, in the quarterfinals, before bowing to Belarusian Anastasila Gureva, 2-6, 6-3, 6-7 (3).
In the doubles, Eala and Somnez fought their way to the semis after defeating Czech player Aneta Kucmova and Russian Ilona Ghloroale, 5-7, 6-3, 10-5.
So far, Eala picked an additional pot of more than $1,300 from her campaign.
Meanwhile, the 198th-ranked Shymanovich turned back Nina Vargova, 7-6 (3), 6-3, 6-4, to set a clash with Eala.
