Alex Eala picked up a huge amount of momentum during the grass swing on the WTA Tour this year.
Eala clinched her first grass-court title at the Birmingham Open and reached the semifinals of the Berlin Open.
At Wimbledon, she became the first player from the Philippines, man or woman, to advance to the fourth round of a Grand Slam.
Alexandra Eala will finish 2026 ranked — in the world
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Eala dethroned Iga Swiatek en route to the round of 16 at the Championships, where she was ultimately knocked out by Jasmine Paolini.
Up next for the 21-year-old is the North American hard court swing, where she will face the biggest test of her career so far.
Alex Eala’s hard-court tune-up events confirmed ahead of US Open
In her tennis journey so far, Eala has entered WTA 250 and WTA 125 events in the lead up to Grand Slams.
The events at those levels serve as a great way for players who are not typically seeded at majors to build some momentum by stringing a few wins together.
The Birmingham Open, for example, a WTA 125 event, served as a great building block for Eala ahead of Wimbledon.
But with Eala’s ranking now 28th in the world, she is set to be seeded for the US Open, and her upcoming schedule looks to be reflective of her shift in standing.
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Eala will start the North American swing by playing at the Washington Open (WTA 500) before featuring at the Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open, both of which are WTA 1000 competitions.
The Rafael Nadal Academy graduate’s schedule looks like that of a top player, and now she will have to prove that she can be consistent at the highest level when going up against the best at solely the biggest tournaments.
Alex Eala’s results during the North American hard-court swing in 2025
Eala will only have 10 points to defend from now until the US Open, having only appeared at one tune-up event during the North American hard-court swing last year.
She played at the Canadian Open in 2025, but suffered a first-round exit when faced with Marketa Vondrousova.
At the US Open last season, Eala won the first Grand Slam match of her career, beating Clara Tauson.
But she fell in the second round to Cristina Bucsa, who came out on top in straight sets.
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