ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala cherishes her first grass-court professional title after ruling the WTA 125 Birmingham Open in England last Sunday.
The Filipino netter defeated Czech Nikola Bartunkova in the final, 5-7, 6-3, 7-5, to claim her second overall title after the Guadalajara 125 last September.
Happy and grateful as she is, Eala isn’t losing sight of the bigger goal, and that is her return to Wimbledon, the third Grand Slam of the year set from June 29 to July 12.
“Of course, winning Birmingham last week was a proud moment in my career, and it does give me a lot of confidence, and it’s left me with good feelings,” said Eala in a Tennis Channel interview.
“But I am aware that everyone’s out to compete, especially here in Queens, everyone’s preparing for Wimbledon, so it’s really cutthroat. More than anything, it motivates me and keeps me focused.”
Eala just advanced to the second round “The Queen’s Club” or the WTA 500 HSBC Championships in London, England, late Tuesday night in Manila.
World No. 33 Eala defeated Zhang Shuai, 6-3, 6-2, in the first round, forging a rematch against her close pal Iva Jovic in the second (round of 16).
Falling to Jovic in their French Open first-round encounter two weeks ago, Eala was seeking a payback win on Wednesday evening to advance.
A victory would also boost Eala’s total ranking points from 1,422 to 1470, which would catapult her to No. 31 and put her in good position to get a Wimbledon seed.
Seeded players get favorable draws because they won’t face each other for the first two rounds of the third Grand Slam of the year, instead taking on lower-ranked players, qualifiers or wildcards.
After HSBC, Eala could further boost her Wimbledon seeding hopes at the 500 Berlin Tennis Open set from June 15 to 21.
If not in HSBC, Eala needs a deep run in Berlin to generate enough points that would negate an impending 163-point drop as her Eastbourne Open final points last year vanishes right on the Wimbledon seeding cutoff on June 22.
Eala is in a crucial stretch where she is on cusp of a Wimbledon seed but also in danger of not reaching it if she could not defend her 163 points through HSBC or Berlin.
