Alex Eala enjoyed the best Grand Slam run of her career so far at Wimbledon.
Eala reached the fourth round of the Championships, dethroning defending champion Iga Swiatek en route.
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The Filipina became the first from her country, man or woman, in the Open Era to advance to the round-of-16 at a Grand Slam.
She was ultimately knocked out of the tournament by former Wimbledon finalist Jasmine Paolini, who beat her in three sets.
With her campaign, Eala reached a career-high ranking of 28th in the world, a position that would see her seeded at the US Open.
Greg Rusedski reacts to Alex Eala’s run at Wimbledon
Reacting to Eala’s run, former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski had high praise for the 21-year-old Rafael Nadal Academy graduate.
In his podcast, ‘Off Court with Greg‘, Rusedski said: “She’s like the [new] Manny Pacquiao of the Philippines. Everybody turns on the TV to watch her.
“The whole nation comes to a standstill. Wherever she is in the world, everybody wants to see her. She’s the biggest star on the WTA tour.
“I love a lefty. You know, the Swiatek match was absolutely brilliant. Paolini, she battled, didn’t find a way to get through that, but got close.
Alexandra Eala will finish 2026 ranked — in the world
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“The serve is the area. If she can get that serve up, then she’s top 20 and starts climbing higher. She’s got the game to win at Wimbledon. It’s just keeping on moving forward, keeping on improving.
“But for me, the most impressive thing was her mentality. Between the ears, never say die. She always gets stuck in. She’s grinding. She’s fighting.
“And this is the big breakthrough. Can she continue it on the hard courts coming up this summer? I think so.
“If she can get a little bit more pop on the first and second serve, she’s good. She’s a great tactician. And I can’t wait to see her play this summer on the hard courts. She really impressed me at Wimbledon.”
Alex Eala’s serving statistics on the WTA Tour this year
The main criticism of Eala from fans and pundits has been of her serve, and the numbers certainly back up those criticisms.
While Eala is the world number 28, she ranks 55th when it comes to total aces, having tallied 56.
Worse yet, the player ranked below her, McCartney Kessler, has fired 52 aces, while only playing 27 matches, 13 fewer than Eala.
Eala ranks 118th on the WTA Tour in first serve percentage (63.3 %) and 123rd for percentage of first serve points won (61.8%).
She is 89th in percentage of service points won (56.4%) and 86th in percentage of service games won (65.6%).
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