ALEX Eala shot up 16 spots to a career-high world No. 31 in the WTA rankings, riding the momentum of an impressive quarterfinal run at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships last week.
Eala, 20, reached the milestone after taking down a trio of high-ranked foes in American Hailey Baptiste, Romania’s Sorana Cirstea, and world No. 7 Jasmine Paolini to muscle her way into the Last Eight in Dubai until her amazing run was ended by Coco Gauff.
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The ranking jump wipes out her previous career-best of No. 40, set just last February 9 before she slipped back to No. 47 heading to Dubai's WTA 1000 tournament.
Next only to Eala among the biggest gainers in the world's Top 50 is one-time doubles partner and fellow Southeast Asian Janice Janice Tjen of Indonesia who leaped 10 places from No. 46 to No. 36.
Eala has played six tournaments in 2026 so far: the ASB Classic in Auckland, the Australian Open, the Philippine Women's Open, the Abu Dhabi Open, the Qatar Open, and the recently concluded Dubai Tennis Championships.
Her quarterfinal finish in Dubai is so far her best at a WTA 1000-level event, following her breakout run to the semifinals in Miami last year.
And she’s not slowing down.
Fresh off the desert heat, Eala flew straight to the US to gear up for the Sunshine Double back-to-back WTA 1000 stops at the BNP Paribas Open, from March 1 to 15, and the Miami Open, starting March 17.
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