Alex Eala hit 2 birds with 1 stone in Berlin semis run

MANILA, Phlippines — Alexandra "Alex" Eala hit two birds with one stone in her semifinal finish in the WTA 500 Berlin Open in Germany last week.

Reaching the last four of the tournament, the Filipino sensation gained 195 points to boost her total to 1,557 to rise from No. 35 to No. 30 in the latest official rankings last Monday.

The ascent made Eala the first seeded Filipino player in a Grand Slam singles tournament, being No. 29 in the Wimbledon set from June 29 to July 12 in London.

Eala was supposed to be seeded No. 30 but world No. 9 Victoria Mboko withdrew from the third major of the year due to a knee injury, pushing Eala up a notch.

That was the first bird she hit.

The other one was managing to negate a ranking drop as her last year's 250 Eastbourne Open points expired.

Had Eala made a quick exit in Berlin, she would have lost 163 points from her Eastbourne final run last year which would have kept her at just No. 35 or 36 in the ranking.

That meant the 21-year-old would have not gotten a seed in Wimbledon in the seeding cutoff on June 22.

Instead, Eala did thanks to a dream run that included upset wins against world No. 2 Elena Rybakina and No. 8 Elina Svitolina.

Eala moved to the 500 Bad Homburg Open right away albeit her singles run ended quickly after falling to world No. 26 Elise Mertens, 3-6, 3-6, last Tuesday.

At press time on Wednesday night, Eala was set to team up with American tennis great Venus Williams in a doubles match against the Aussie-American duo of Alexandra Osborne and Catherine Harrison in the first round (round of 16).

"I am really, really excited," said Eala of teaming up with Williams.

"Venus is such a trailblazer and continues to do so much and has done so much for the sport. I like to say that women's tennis has been a trailblazer for women's sports and she is a big part of why that is."

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