Why Alex Eala is chasing a significant rankings breakthrough heading into a crucial month

Kevin Palmer 29 Apr 2026 2:00 PM

Alex Eala at the Laureus Sports Awards.

The clay court season has not gone according to plan so far for Alex Eala, but the Filipina star has a chance to achieve a big rankings breakthrough before this phase of the tennis year comes to an end.

Eala won her opening game of the 2026 clay court campaign in the Upper Austria Ladies Linz event earlier this month, before she was beaten by Jelena Ostapenko in the second round.

She was then defeated by Leylah Fernandez in the opening round of the WTA 500 tournament in Stuttgart before going down to a heavy defeat against Elise Mertens in the second round at the Madrid Open.

Eala slipped down the WTA Rankings last month, as she failed to match her run to the semi-final at the 2025 edition of that tournament in Florida and currently sits at No 41 in the WTA Rankings.

She will be keen to get back into the top 32 of the rankings, as that would secure her a seeded position for Grand Slams and it may not need too many wins to get into that position.

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Eala has just 20 ranking points to defend in her next two matches at the Italian Open and Roland Garros, after she was beaten in the first round of both of those events last year.

Clay may not be the most productive surface for Eala, as she has enjoyed her best results on hard courts and grass, with her run to last year’s final at the WTA 250 tournament at Eastbourne highlighting her prowess on the green turf in England in June.

Eala has 237 ranking points to defend on grass courts, with the bulk of those coming from her run at Eastbourne, so she will be keen to make the most of her chances in Rome and Paris in her final two clay court tournaments after she opted not to play in this week’s WTA 125 La Bisbal d’Emporda tournament.

One big target for Eala will be to halt the trend of heavy defeats that have littered her record in recent weeks, with former British No 1 Greg Rusedski suggesting those setbacks are all part of her learning experience on the WTA Tour.

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“Well, it’s the harder hitters. It’s being on tour week in and week out. And you’re going to take some bruising losses,” said Rusedski on the latest edition of his podcast.

“If you look at the one she lost the week previous in Stuttgart to Leylah Fernandez… I mean, she (Fernandez) pushed Elena Rybakina all the way.

“So, the losses she (Eala) takes are not bad defeats. It’s sometimes the scorelines that are a problem and this is part of the learning experience.

“She’s too good a player, she’ll figure it out. And what I like is her resilience.

“And if you’re a fan out there, just be a little patient. It might take a little bit longer for her, but she’s got a great team of people around her. And she’s got to find solutions. So don’t get too discouraged.”