ALEXANDRA “Alex” Eala seized a wild-card entry to the WTA 500 Berlin Open main draw, the tournament social media pages announced on Thursday.
The Filipino ace was initially listed in the qualifiers of the tournament in Germany but some player withdrawals may have paved the way for her to get promoted to the main draw of the tourney running from June 15 to 21.
Eala just exited the WTA 500 HSBC Championships in England on Wednesday, falling to Iva Jovic in the round of 16, 2-6, 2-6.
Getting a direct main draw entry instead of pushing through the qualifiers gives Eala a little time to recover as she continues her buildup for Wimbledon.
Eala enters a stacked Berlin tournament that features most of the top 10 players including No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka and No. 2 Elena Rybakina.
The draw for the 500-tier tournament hasn’t been released yet.
Eala’s run in Berlin would determine if she’s going to lock a seed at Wimbledon slated from June 29 to July 12.
Currently No. 33 in the rankings and with No. 30 Hailey Baptiste out due to injury, Eala is practically in the top 32 that gets a seed in the third Grand Slam of the year.
However, Eala is set to lose 163 points right at the seeding cutoff of Berlin on June 22, with her Eastbourne Open final points last year expiring.
Eala needs to match that runner-up finish to retain those 163 points and essentially locked her spot in the top 32.
If not, Eala will still make the Wimbledon albeit she won’t get a favorable draw.
Seeded players get favorable draws because they won’t face each other for the first two rounds, instead taking on lower-ranked players, qualifiers or wild cards.
Unseeded players will likely face a lower-ranked player in the first round and then a seeded player in the next.
NIEL VICTOR MASOY
