French Open: Will Alex Eala be seeded at clay-court Grand Slam
Alex Eala’s run to the third round of the Italian Open has resulted in a boost in her position on the WTA Rankings, but will it be enough for a seeding at the French Open?
The 20-year-old Eala started the WTA 1000 event at No 42 in the rankings and won her matches against Magdalena Frech and Xin Wang before coming unstuck against second seed Elena Rybakina with the world No 2 winning 6-4, 6-2.
The Filipina, though, earned 55 ranking points and that has seen her jump four places to No 38 in the Live Rankings.
Eala was initially due to compete in this week’s WTA 125K Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma, but she withdrew from the event with her run to the round of 32 in Rome no doubt key to that decision.
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The rising star’s match against Rybakina took place late on Sunday at Foro Italico while the WTA Challenger Tour event started on Monday, leaving very little time for travelling between events.
Although there are still two WTA tournaments scheduled for the week before the French Open, Eala’s name is not on the entry list for either the WTA 500 Internationaux de Strasbourg or WTA 250 Morocco Open.
Unless she accepts a late wildcard into either of those events, it means she has played her last competitive events before the French Open.
However, it has to be noted that even if she does end up featuring in either Strasbourg or Rabat, any points she earns won’t count towards the Roland Garros seedings as it will be based on the WTA rankings of 18 May.
So Will Eala Be Seeded?
The short answer is no as only the top-32 players on the entry list are seeded at Grand Slams, but that does not mean all is lost as she could still find herself in a seeding position by the time the draw takes place.
If any of the players above her in the rankings withdraw before the draw is made, she will be bumped up on the list and currently she only needs six players to withdraw in order to be among the top 32.
The likes of Amanda Anisimova, Victoria Mboko and Emma Raducanu all missed the Italian Open due to illness and injury, and it remains to be seen if they will play at Roland Garros.
Now for the bad news, she could still be bumped down a spot before the rankings are updated on Monday, 18 May as Emma Navarro, currently No 39 in the Live Rankings, is in action at the WTA 125K Trophée Clarins in Paris and a title run could see her move ahead of Eala.
