Alexandra Eala (born 23 May 2005) is a Filipino

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...

player. Eala was the No. 2-ranked ITF junior on 6 October 2020. She has a career-high singles ranking by the

Women's Tennis Association The Women's Tennis Association (WTA) is the principal organizing body of women's professional tennis. It governs the WTA Tour which is the worldwide professional tennis tour for women and was founded to create a better future for women's tenn ...

(WTA) of 214, achieved on 31 October 2022. Eala is the highest-ranked Filipino female singles player in

WTA Tour The WTA Tour is a worldwide top-tier tennis tour for women organized by the Women's Tennis Association. The second-tier tour is the WTA 125K series, and third-tier is the ITF Women's Circuit. The men's equivalent is the ATP Tour. WTA Tour tou ...

history, surpassing Maricris Gentz, who peaked at No. 284 on 18 October 1999. Eala won her first junior singles title at the 2022 US Open, making her the first Filipino player to win a junior

Grand Slam Grand Slam most often refers to: * Grand Slam (tennis), one player or pair winning all four major annual tournaments, or the tournaments themselves Grand Slam or Grand slam may also refer to: Games and sports * Grand slam, winning category te ...

singles title.

Personal life

Her mother Rosemarie "Rizza" Maniego-Eala is a

1985 Southeast Asian Games The 1985 Southeast Asian Games ( th, กีฬาแห่งเอเชียตะวันออกเฉียงใต้ 1985, Kila haeng echeiy tawan oak cheing tai 1985), officially known as the 13th Southeast Asian Games, was a Southe ...

bronze medalist in the 100-meter backstroke and currently serves as the chief financial officer of

Globe Telecom Globe Telecom, Inc., commonly shortened as Globe, is a major provider of telecommunications services in the Philippines. The company operates the largest mobile network in the Philippines and one of the largest fixed-line and broadband networks ...

. She is the niece of

Philippine Sports Commission The Philippine Sports Commission (PSC, ) is an agency of the Philippine government which tackles matters concerning sports in the country. The sports agency is independent from the Philippine Olympic Committee which enjoys autonomy from the gov ...

chairperson and former

Philippine Basketball Association The Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) is a men's professional basketball league in the Philippines composed of twelve company-branded franchised teams. Founded in 1975, it is the first professional basketball league in Asia and is the se ...

commissioner

Noli Eala Jose Emmanuel "Noli" M. Eala is a Filipino sports executive and disbarred lawyer who served as the 11th chairperson of the Philippine Sports Commission from August 30 to December 28, 2022. He previously served as the sixth commissioner of the P ...

. Her brother, Michael (Miko), plays tennis for the

Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a public state-related land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvania. Founded in 1855 as the Farmers' High School of Pennsylvania, Penn State becam ...

. She has been a student of the

Rafa Nadal Academy The Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (RNA) is a tennis training center on the island of Mallorca, Spain. It was founded in 2016 by tennis great Rafael Nadal and located in his hometown of Manacor. The inaugural director is Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle ...

Movistar Movistar () is a major telecommunications provider owned by Telefónica, operating in Spain and Hispanic American countries. It is the largest provider of landline, broadband, Mobile telephony, mobile services, and pay television (Movistar+) in ...

Manacor Manacor () is a town and municipality on the island of Mallorca, part of the Spanish autonomous community of the Balearic Islands. It is the second largest town in Mallorca, after the capital of Palma. The municipality has tourist areas such as P ...

(Mallorca, Spain), since she was 12 years old.

Junior career

Junior Grand Slam performance - singles: * Australian Open: 3R (2020) * French Open: SF (2020) * Wimbledon: 2R (2021) * US Open: W (2022) Junior Grand Slam performance - doubles: * Australian Open: W (2020) * French Open: W (2021) * Wimbledon: 2R (2021) * US Open: SF (2021)

2018

At the age of 12, Eala won the 2018

Les Petit As Les Petits As (English: ''Little champions'') is a junior tennis tournament for players aged 12–14, held in Tarbes, France. The event has seen a number of its champions go on to become slam winners, including Rafael Nadal, Michael Chang, Martin ...

14-and-under tournament, beating

Linda Nosková Linda Nosková (born 17 November 2004) is a Czech tennis player. She has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of No. 56, reached on 9 January 2023, and a career-high doubles ranking of world No. 160, set on 3 Oc ...

in the finals. She made her junior

debut at the 2019 US Open. She was named the 2019 Milo Junior Athlete of the Year.

2020 First junior doubles title

Eala won the 2020 Australian girls' doubles event, partnering

Priska Madelyn Nugroho Priska Madelyn Nugroho (born 29 May 2003) is an Indonesian tennis player. She has won five titles in singles and eleven in doubles on the ITF Circuit. She reached her career-high WTA rankings of No. 276 in singles and No. 197 in doubles. She i ...

. They defeated

Živa Falkner Živa Falkner (born 7 July 2002) is a Slovenian tennis player. Falkner has a career high WTA ranking of 479 in singles achieved on 13 December 2021. She also has a career high WTA ranking of 414 in doubles achieved on 19 September 2022. Falkn ...

and Matilda Mutavdzic in the final. Eala peaked in the junior rankings at No. 2, after reaching the semifinals at the 2020 French Open girls' singles competition.

2021 Second junior doubles title

Eala paid tribute to her roots on Independence Day following another major triumph, this time on the clay court in Paris. Eala and her Russian partner

Oksana Selekhmeteva Oksana Olegovna Selekhmeteva ( rus, Окса́на Оле́говна Селехме́тьева, links=no; ; born 13 January 2003) is a Russian tennis player. Selekhmeteva has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (W ...

captured the French Open girls' doubles title Saturday. They were the top seeds in the tournament, won after knocking out Maria Bondarenko of Russia and

Amarissa Kiara Tóth Amarissa Kiara Tóth (born 10 February 2003) is a Hungarian tennis player. Her mother is of Thai descent. Tóth has a career-high WTA rankings of 547 in singles, attained on 21 November 2022, and 264 in doubles, achieved on 3 October 2022. Sh ...

of Hungary, 6–0, 7–5, in the final.

2022 First junior Grand Slam singles title

On September 11, 2022, Eala became the first Filipino to win a junior

singles championship and the only Filipino with multiple junior Grand Slam titles. She defeated the No. 2 seed, Lucie Havlickova of the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. Th ...

, 6–2, 6–4, at the girls' singles final of the 2022 US Open at the

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a stadium complex within Flushing Meadows–Corona Park in Queens, New York City, United States. It has been the home of the US Open Grand Slam tennis tournament, played every year in August ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

Professional career

2020 Professional career debut

Eala made her debut on the

ITF Women's Circuit The ITF Women's World Tennis Tour, previously known as the ITF Women's Circuit, is a series of professional tennis tournaments run by the International Tennis Federation for female professional tennis players. History It serves as a developmenta ...

on 4 March 2020, as she played in the $15k event at Monastir, where she won her first professional match.

2021 First ITF senior title, top 1000 & WTA debut

She leaped to the top 1000 in the

WTA rankings The WTA rankings are the ratings defined by the Women's Tennis Association, introduced in November 1975. Iga Świątek is the current world No. 1. Ranking method The WTA rankings are based on a rolling 52-week, cumulative system. A pla ...

, after winning the title at the first leg of the $15k Manacor event in Spain in January 2021. She received wildcard in the qualifying draw of

2021 Miami Open – Women's singles 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

where in she lost to

Viktória Kužmová Viktória Kužmová (; born 11 May 1998) is a Slovak professional tennis player. She has been ranked as high as No. 43 in singles and No. 27 in doubles in the world by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA). Kužmová has won three WTA doubles ...

in a three set battle in the first round. Eala made her first ITF doubles final at the $25k Platja d’Aro in Spain, playing with

. They lost to Lithuania’s Justina Mikulskyte and Romanian

Oana Georgeta Simion Oana Georgeta Simion (born 8 March 1996) is a Romanian tennis player. Simion has a career-high singles ranking by the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) of 380, achieved 26 July 2021. She also has a career-high WTA doubles ranking of 272, set on ...

, 3-6, 5-7. In August, she made her

main draw debut in

2021 Winners Open The 2021 WTA Romanian Open, known as the Winners Open due to sponsorship reasons, was a professional women's tennis tournament played on outdoor clay courts at the Winners Sports Club. It was the 1st edition of the tournament held in the city ...

in Cluj-Napoca, Romania by receiving a wildcard. On her first match, she defeated

Paula Ormaechea Paula Ormaechea (; born 28 September 1992) is an Argentine tennis player based in Italy. She has won 16 singles and nine doubles titles on the ITF Circuit. On 21 October 2013, she reached a career-high singles ranking of world No. 59.World Grou ...

in straight sets 7-5, 6-2. On her next match, she lost to

Mayar Sherif Mayar Sherif Ahmed Abdel-Aziz ( ar, ميار شريف أحمد عبد العزيز; born 5 May 1996) is an Egyptian tennis player. She is the younger sister of Rana Sherif Ahmed. She has career-high WTA rankings of world No. 44 in singles, achieve ...

in straight sets.

2022 Masters 1000 debut

She received a wildcard for her Masters 1000 debut in 2022 Miami Open – Women's singles. She lost to

Madison Brengle Madison Brengle (born April 3, 1990) is an American professional tennis player. Her biggest success she had in early 2015, reaching her first WTA Tour final in January, followed by a fourth round major event appearance at the Australian Open. I ...

in the first round in straight sets.

2023

Eala made her debut in qualifying draw of

2023 Australian Open The 2023 Australian Open was a Grand Slam level tennis tournament held at Melbourne Park, from 16–29 January 2023. It was the 111th edition of the Australian Open, the 55th in the Open Era, and the first major of the year. The tournament con ...

where in her first match she lost to

Misaki Doi is a Japanese professional tennis player. Her highest WTA rankings are No. 30 in singles and No. 77 in doubles. Doi reached two junior Grand Slam doubles finals – at Wimbledon in 2007 with Kurumi Nara, and at the Australian Open in 2008 ...

in tight three setter.

Performance timeline

''Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand Slam tournaments, Fed Cup/Billie Jean King Cup and Olympic Games are included in win–loss records.''

Singles

''Current after the 2023 Australian Open.''

ITF Circuit finals

Singles 3 (2 titles, 1 runner-up)

Doubles 1 (runner–up)

Junior Grand Slam finals

Singles 1 title

Doubles 2 titles

ITF Junior finals

Singles 9 (4 titles, 5 runner-ups)

Doubles 5 (3 titles, 2 runner-ups)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eala, Alex Sportspeople from Quezon City Living people 2005 births Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' doubles Filipino female tennis players French Open junior champions Australian Open (tennis) junior champions Competitors at the 2021 Southeast Asian Games Southeast Asian Games bronze medalists for the Philippines Southeast Asian Games medalists in tennis Grand Slam (tennis) champions in girls' singles US Open (tennis) junior champions