Eala will drop 20 places in the WTA rankings when points earned at the Miami Open expire
DESPITE Alexandra “Alex” Eala repeating her top-four finish from last year at the Miami Open, she is tipped to fall further in the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) rankings by dropping at least 20 points following the expiry of the ranking points on Thursday.
The main draw of the WTA-1000-ranked tour began on Wednesday, losing all points scored by all players in last year’s edition, including 390 from Ms. Eala after the star ran all the way from a wildcard in the qualifiers to become her first WTA semi-finalist.
And according to WTA live ratings, the result is immediate as it has drawn Ms. He fell to No. 50 from a new career-best of No. 29 this week following a Last 16 finish at the Indian Wells Open with 1525 points.
He has returned to 1145 now and if he fails to go deep when the players in front of him go forward, Mrs. Eala may slip into the Top 60.
Overall, Mrs. Eala has lost just 380 points so far, earning 10 points due to a first-round bye as the No. 31 seed in a field of 128 players led by 32 top players and former and current Grand Slam champions.
The official WTA ranking update will be seen on Mondays every week and it is up to Ms. He ordered to change the situation and start with a Round 2 duel against No. 53 Laura Siegemund of Germany, who beat 76 Petra Marcinko of Croatia, 6-4, 6-4, in Round 1.
Mrs. Eala and Siegemund were scheduled to fight before lunch on Wednesday but were pushed back to 12 a.m. (Manila time) shortly after heavy rains disrupted other matches in Miami.
His first duel, although in Round 2 already, will set the tone for whether he can get those points or lose them completely. He needs four wins to make it and return to the semifinals, where his best friend and world No. 4 Coco Gauff or No. 6 Amanda Anisimova can wait.
Inch by inch, he could cut his deficit by 35, 65, 120 and 215 points to hold on to Round 2, 3, 4 and quarterfinals, respectively.
And the giants in the lower brackets are waiting in line to line up for that.
After Ms. Siegemund, underworld No. 3 Iga Swiatek of Poland has a tough ax to grind awaiting Ms Eala in the third round. Mrs. Swiatek was part of Ms. Eala killed the Titan in Miami who broke the gates open with her height, along with Jelena Ostapenko from Latvia and Madison Keys from the USA, before she fought against the world number 5 Jessica Pegula also from the USA.
Ms. Swiatek, who also has a first-round bye as the No. 2 seed in Miami, will face compatriot Magda Linette in Round 2. Ms. Linette, the WTA No.
World No. 14 Karolina Muchova of Czechia or 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark in Round 4 and then world number 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada or 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia are expected to stand in the way in the next two rounds for Ms. Eala entered the semis.
“Take it back,” he cheered, announcing a massive battle to protect what’s his and prove he’s one of the best in the world.
Meanwhile, the reigning champion and country’s No. No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus or No. 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan top the bracket and should be on a collision course for another final. – John Bryan Ulanday
