MANILA, Philippines – A lot has changed for Alex Eala over the past year, including her world ranking.

Eala returns to the tournament that propelled her to greater heights with a new career-high ranking as she enters the Miami Open slated from March 17 to 29 as the No. 29 player in the world.

The 20-year-old Filipina rose three spots from No. 32 a week ago in the latest WTA rankings released on Monday, March 16, following her round of 16 appearance in the Indian Wells Open. 

A seeded player in Indian Wells, Eala received a first-round bye then went on to outlast Ukraine’s Dayana Yastremska in three sets in the round of 64, beat world No. 4 Coco Gauff of the United States via walkover in the round of 32, before she fell to Czech Republic’s Linda Noskova in straight sets in the round of 16. 

Cracking the world top 30 shows how far Eala has come since her historic run to the semifinals in Miami last year that saw her pull off a series of upsets over Grand Slam champions Iga Swiatek of Poland, Madison Keys of the United States, and Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia. 

Then ranked 140th in the world, Eala made the top 100 for the first time and has steadily climbed the rankings, reaching the top 50 in November, the top 40 in February, and the top 30 this March. 

But Eala can quickly lose her place in the top 30 if she fails to defend the 390 points she gained as a semifinalist in Miami last year, which make up one-fourth of the 1,525 points she currently owns.

Fortunately, Eala gets a head start as she once again gains a first-round bye as the 31st seed in Miami. 

Eala advances directly to the round of 64 and will face the winner between world No. 53 Laura Siegemund of Germany and No. 76 Petra Marcinko of Croatia. 

It does not get any easier for Eala, though, with six-time major winner Swiatek — who fell to No. 3 in the world rankings — posing as a possible opponent in the round of 32.

Other top players in the same bracket as Eala include world No. 9 Victoria Mboko of Canada, No. 10 Mirra Andreeva of Russia, No. 14 Karolina Muchova of Czech Republic, and No. 16 Clara Tauson of Denmark. – Rappler.com