ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala has a handsome chance of getting a spot at the Wimbledon, thanks to a championship win in the WTA 125 Birmingham Open in London, England, on Sunday.
The win gave Eala 76 points and boosted her total to 1,416, climbing four spots in the rankings from No. 37 to 33, just one spot outside the top 32 players who will be given seeds at the Wimbledon set from June 29 to July 12.
Seeded players get favorable draws as they won’t face each other for the first two rounds of the third Grand Slam of the year, taking on lower-ranked players, qualifiers or wildcards instead.
With American and world No. 30 Hailey Baptiste out for the rest of season with an injury, Eala is practically within the magic circle, but there are still two weeks left until the seeding cutoff on June 22.
The Filipina thus needs a respectable run in her next three tournaments beginning with the WTA 500 HSBC Championships that started on Sunday (June 7) until June 14 to gain or defend enough points and stay in top 32.
The 21-year-old Eala was facing Chinese and world No. 64 Zhang Shuai in the first round at press time on Tuesday evening.
Eala will then compete in the qualifiers of the 500 Berlin Tennis Open set from June 15 to June 21, as well as the 500 Bad Homburg Open from June 21 to 27.
Entering a crucial stretch
Eala enters a crucial stretch where she is on cusp of a Wimbledon seed but at the same time is in danger of not reaching it.
The lefty netter earned 163 ranking points last year for reaching the final of the Eastbourne Open but those points were about to expire right at the seeding cutoff (June 22) for this year’s Wimbledon.
That puts more pressure on Eala to make a good run, especially in her next two tournaments to generate enough points that will negate her impending point-drop, and thus keep her hovering in the 30th-32nd rank plateau in the seeding cutoff.
A semifinal (195 points), runner-up (325), or even a title finish (500) at the HSBC Championships will put all the worry to bed.
If not, Eala may reach the quarterfinal (108) of the said tournament and then make the round of 16 (60) of the Berlin Tennis Open to earn a combined 168 points to cushion her 163-point drop. NIEL VICTOR MASOY
