MANILA, Philippines — Filipino tennis ace Alexandra "Alex" Eala is set for a new career-high rank of No. 28 once the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) updates its official rankings on Monday.
Eala, whose previous career-best ranking was No. 29 last March, sports a total of 1,666 points following her historic Wimbledon run where she became the first Filipino singles player to reach the grass major round of 16 in both the amateur and Open Era.
Looking at the live rankings, Eala owns identical total ranking points as the No. 27 Anastasia Potapova.
Why is Eala ranked lower than the Russian-born Austrian netter then?
The answer is simply that Potapova wins the WTA's primary criterion tiebreak.
As per WTA rules, the player who earned the most points from the Tour's four Grand Slams and 10 1000-tier tournaments as well as the WTA Finals over the last 52 weeks (1 year) will win the tiebreaker and therefore be ranked higher.
In Eala and Potapova's case, the Austrian totaled 1,015 points from the said tournaments including the just-concluded Wimbledon, while Eala only totaled 905.
Therefore, Potapova is ranked higher than Eala despite their identical ranking points.
Here's the breakdown of the points they earned from the said tournaments:
Potapova - 510 points from the majors, 505 from 1000s, total 1,015
Grand Slams - US Open 130 pts (R32), Australian Open 130 pts (R32), French Open 240 pts (R16), Wimbledon 10 pts (R128)
1000s -- Canada 10 pts (R64), Cincinnati 10 pts (R64), Beijing 100 pts (R16), Wuhan 10 pts (R64), Doha 10 pts (R64), Dubai 10 pts (R64), Indian Wells 65 pts (R32), Miami 215 pts (QF), Madrid 65 pts (R32), Italy 10 pts (R64)
Eala -- 330 points from the majors, 575 from 1000s, total 905
Grand Slams - US Open 70 pts (R64), Australian Open 10 pts (R128), French Open 10 pts (R128), Wimbledon 240 pts (R16)
1000s - Canada 0 pts, Cincinnati 0 pts, Beijing 45 pts (R64), Wuhan 0 pts, Doha 0 pts, Dubai 215 pts (QF), Indian Wells 120 pts (R16), Miami 120 pts (R16), Madrid 65 pts (R32), Italy 10 pts (R64)
Eala is definitely closing in on the top 25, though, with the No. 26 player Emma Navarro just 8 points ahead (1,674) and No. 25 Leylah Fernandez 118 points ahead (1,784).
Once the 21-year-old swings back into action during the North American hard-court swing, deep runs at tournaments such as the 500 Mubadala DC Open and the 1000 Canadian Open in Toronto could push her into the top 25 or even the top 20.
