Alex Eala now highest-ranked WTA SEA player as World No. 18
She's on a roll!
Alex Eala has reached a career-high rank of World No. 18, earning the highest spot among WTA Southeast Asian singles players in history.
It is a two-rank jump from Eala's previous World No. 20. The previous regional record-holders were Indonesia's Yayuk Basuki and Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn, who were ranked World No. 19 in 1997 and 2002, respectively.
Most recently, Eala played at the Cincinnati Open in Ohio, where she bowed out in the Round of 32 after her Aug. 18 loss to World No. 10 Amanda Anisimova.
Prior to this, Eala was at the National Bank Open in Toronto, where she exited ahead of the quarterfinals after a loss to Belinda Bencic in the Round of 16.
Eala, armed with her first WTA singles title, is set to play next as a seeded player in the just-begun US Open in New York, the final Grand Slam event of the tennis season, following the Australian Open, the French Open, and Wimbledon. She will be playing both in women's singles and mixed doubles, where she has been paired with Canada's Felix Auger-Aliassime.
Eala is set to play on the US Open's hardcourt on Aug. 27 at the 2026 Stars of the Open exhibition game against US' Iva Jovic. The main draw will be shared later this week, with matches beginning the week of Aug. 30.
