Sourced online from The Tennis Gazette by Tracy Cabrera
MANILA — At this year’s Wimbledon Championships, Philippines’ tennis sensation Alexandra ‘Alex’ Eala has proven her mettle, breaking new ground and earning her best-ever result at a Grand Slam by dethroning the defending champion, Iga Swiatek, en route to the fourth round of the grass-court major.
The country’s pride swamped Poland’s world number 8 (as of July 13, 2026) in straight sets to advance to the round of 16, where she was unfortunately knocked out by Italian ace Jasmine Paolini. Her campaign in SW19 capped off an impressive grass swing, during which she clinched her first title on the surface in Birmingham before making the semifinals of the Berlin Open.
With the women’s singles tournament at Wimbledon now concluded, Eala is set for a new career-high ranking. Having been knocked out in the first round of Wimbledon last year, she will earn 230 WTA points by making round four this season.
Eala 28th in the world
She is now expected to move up from 32nd to 28th in the world as a result, which is the highest she has ever been in the world rankings of the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA). Her ranking, as it stands, will see her seeded at the upcoming US Open; the fourth and final Grand Slam of the year.
And more than her rise in the rankings, the Quezon City lass will receive her biggest prize money cheque yet by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon, as she has earned $401,022 from her run, which is nearly half of what she has made in the entirety of the 2026 season thus far.
Before Wimbledon, the Rafael Nadal Academy graduate had cashed in an astonishing $871,438 in prize money, making her career prize money total $2,235,123.
Fortunately for Eala, it is more likely that she will rise in the rankings than fall from now until the US Open due to the lack of points she will have to defend in the time period.
Between Wimbledon and the US Open last year, she played just one tournament: The Canadian Open, where she lost in the first round to Marketa Vondrousova. She picked up just 10 WTA points from the run in Canada and will need to win just one match there this year to gain more points.
Eala will be defending 70 points at the US Open, where she earned her first-ever Grand Slam match win last year. In beating Clara Tauson, Eala became the first player in the Open Era from the Philippines to win a match at a major.
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