ALEXANDRA “ALEX” EALA will be chasing a steep, rocky and muddy road to Miami Open glory just to protect her top-earning points and stay inside the top 30 in the world.
Despite receiving a first-round bye as the No. 31 seed, Ms. He dropped out of the lower bracket just to reach the final four as last year he beat a number of Top 10 players and Grand Slam champions.
The 20-year-old Filipina wunderkind, who earned a last 16 finish at the Indian Wells Open considered her “Fifth Grand Slam,” marches into Miami with a new best ranking of WTA No. 29, up from No. 32 last week.
But the request of Ms. Eala to keep that position faces a lot of pressure starting in Round 2 against 53 Laura Siegemund of Germany or No. 76 Petra Marcinko from Croatia.
From an unknown player last year who surprised everyone as player number 140, Ms. Eala is now a marked woman in Miami, who needs to maintain the 390 points she earned following a years-long run from a wildcard to the final four after points expire on Wednesday.
And one of those happily anticipating revenge on the lefty ace is world No. 3 Iga Swiatek, who looks set to take care of either compatriot Magda Linette (No. 50) or France’s Varvara Gracheva (No. 60) to reach the Round of 32.
Ms. Swiatek was among three Top 25 former Grand Slam champions (along with Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia and Madison Keys of the USA) beaten by Ms. She went to Miami last year to become the first WTA semifinalist from the Philippines.
That campaign pushed her into the Top 100 to qualify for every WTA 1000-ranked major tournament and all four Grand Slams before moving up to the Top 50, Top 40 and now the Top 30.
To say that the climb is difficult for Ms. Eala, if all the stars align, from there on could be a trophy because an early exit will scratch 390 points from the 1525 points from Wednesday and drag him up to the Top 50-60 (1135 points) and like where he started this season.
In the fourth round, either world number 13 Karolina Muchova of Czechia or number 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark is tipped to face either 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada or number 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia in the quarterfinals.
Mrs. Eala has to beat all those marquee names just to keep the stated 390 points and advance to the Final Four, where her best friend and world No. 4 Coco Gauff or No. 6 Amanda Anisimova of the United States are expected to be waiting.
World No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus and 2 Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan lead the upper bracket, claiming the final ticket.
The battle lines are drawn, the goal is set and it’s up to Ms. Eala – with an army of Filipino fans behind her as well – to reach new heights as the rising girl in the world or the lowest in the world elite list.
And only time will tell, the conflict Ms. They face Czech or French opponents in Round 2 on Thursday after the qualifiers continue and the head-to-head draw begins. – John Bryan Ulanday
