Sourced online by Tracy Cabrera
MANILA — The question now posed is whether Filipina star Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala will be a seeded player at a Grand Slam for the first time in her career.
Tennis aficionados have a simple reply: No one knows yet.
But as things now stand, the country’s pride eyes a chance to barge in as the 33rd highest-ranked player going into Wimbledon, as both Hailey Baptiste of the United States and Canadian Victoria Mboko, who are both ranked higher than Eala, have withdrawn from Wimbledon due to injury.
Still, despite the absence of the two, the Filipina ace will have to produce a strong bid in Berlin to ensure that she qualifies as a seeded player for Wimbledon.
Ahead of the event, though, there is good news for the 21-year-old lass from Quezon City as she is projected to rise two places in the WTA rankings ahead of the Berlin Open, making her the 31st-highest ranked player heading into Wimbledon.
Tournament organizers enthused that if Eala were to qualify as a seeded player for Wimbledon, this would represent her first major event as a seed.
Following her first-round defeat in London, Eala is ranked 35th on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour.
After a title-winning campaign in Birmingham, many fans may have expected Alexandra Eala to carry her good form into the Queen’s Club Championships. Instead, her inspired form deserted her and she struggled throughout her first-round contest in West London, losing 6-2, 6-2 to American youngster Iva Jovic.
Eala has since travelled east to Berlin, where she will play Queen’s champion Donna Vekic in the first round. However, playing an in-form Vekic represents a difficult task. It was in 2025 that the Filipina made her second appearance in the main draw of a Grand Slam event.
Eala was drawn against the defending champion, Barbora Krejčíková of Czechia, in the first round and she came out of the blocks hot, winning the first set 6-3 inside Centre Court. Krejčíková, though, rallied back to take the next two sets 6-2, 6-1.
Following the victory, the Czech, despite battling physical issues during the contest, quickly recognised Eala’s high level of play during her post-match remarks.
“I would like to start with giving the credit to Alex. I mean, what the hell she played in the first set,” the former No. 2 from Ivančice pointed out.
“She was smashing the ball, and she was cleaning the lines and all that, so, wow. It’s the next generation coming that she’s gonna come up and she’s gonna be really good in a couple of years,” Krejčíková added.
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