MANILA, Philippines — Philippine sensation Alexandra "Alex" Eala surged to the top 20 of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) official rankings following her 500 Mubadala D.C. Open conquest in Washington early Tuesday in Manila.
Eala defeated world No. 3 and tournament top seed Jessica Pegula in the final, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0, to seize her new career-high rank.
Climbing from No. 28 last week, Eala gained 500 ranking points from her maiden Tour-level title to raise her total points from 1,666 to 2,106.
The lefty netter likewise made a big leap in the WTA Finals race, jumping from No. 25 to a season-best No. 14 with 1,878 points.
Her previous best was No. 19 last April.
Eala also secured a huge payout of $252,000 or more than P15.4 million for winning the Washington title.
The 21-year-old started her campaign by defeating reigning Olympic champ and former world No. 4 Zheng Qinwen of China, 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 before dethroning defending champ Leylah Fernandez of Canada in the second round., 6-2, 7-6(1).
Eala went on to repeat over No. 2 seed Elina Svitolina in the quarterfinal, 6-3, 6-4, and stun No. 3 seed and 4-time Grand Slam champ Naomi Osaka in the semis, 6-4- 6-2, before taking down Pegula in the rain-delayed finale.
"Before the final yesterday I got so many messages, sweet messages from my family and my friends who are on Tour, wherever else in the world and I thought to myself I feel so much love, so standing here in the middle of all this love, my first chance at the title knowing it won't be my last," said Eala in the court interview.
"And already having achieved this feat and this milestone for my career, I knew that whatever would have happened after this match, it would have already been a win for me so thank you everybody and I really look forward to seeing you guys again!"
