Alex Eala will be hoping to have an even better season in 2027 after achieving her best career results so far in 2026.
This year, Eala has won her first WTA title at the Washington Open, reached the second week of Wimbledon and broken into the top 20.
The Filipina has just two tournaments left to play in 2026, with Eala making a positive start to the Tokyo Open after comfortably winning her first round match.
With Eala approaching the end of her season, she has been predicted to achieve even bigger things in 2027.
Alex Eala backed to move towards the top 10 in 2027 by Greg Rusedski
Eala had a successful US Open hard court swing, but she has struggled for form since then, including losing in the second round of the Ningbo Open to Diana Shnaider.
Despite recent losses, former US Open finalist Greg Rusedski does not appear to be worried about Eala, as he praised the Filipina for what she has achieved this year. Rusedski went on to compare Eala to her idol Maria Sharapova, before backing her to approach the top 10 next year if she improves her serve.
“Well expectations are sometimes a bit too high, she’s still building her game,” Rusedski said about Eala in the latest edition of his podcast. “Once she gets that serve into play and starts holding more often, then she gets even more consistent results. You don’t fluke the title the way she did in Washington. That was beating world class players week in, week out. Her runs at Wimbledon, you know she’s creating history, you know her run at the US Open again.
“She loses to Shnaider, who beat [Iva] Jovic as well and is going deep in the tournaments. So, that’s not a bad loss to lose to somebody who’s made the semis of the French this year. So on paper, yeah you’re going to have little bumps in the road.
“But 2027, I think it’s going to be a big year for the Filipina, because I think she’s just going to get better and she’s going to prove that she’s going to use that aspect. If her serve can go up 20%, she’s knocking on the door in the top 10.
“And for me, she’s the number one selling point for the WTA Tour, she’s not two or three. She’s number one. You know, you talk about our program, you talk about everybody else’s social media. Everybody wants a bit of her and she’s great for the game. And also she gets that balance right, she reminds me a bit of Maria Sharapova. Sharapova would do all the social media stuff, all the corporates, all the sponsors, but the number one priority was tennis, and that’s what Eala seems to have.
“And if she can continue on that path, she’ll get out of it what she wants to get. And she needs to continue improve in that area of serve. If she can get that serve up to where it needs to be, the sky’s the limit.”
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Where will Alex Eala be ranked if she wins the Tokyo Open?
Eala is currently the world number 19, just one spot away from her career-high ranking. However, Eala is equal to her career-high of world number 18 in the live rankings.
This is something that Eala can improve if she makes a deep run at the Tokyo Open, with a title win enabling her to climb to as high as world number 14.
Eala is likely to be feeling confident ahead of her next match in the Japanese capital against Talia Gibson, who she has won both of her previous matches against, but they have not played each other since 2023.
If Eala is able to beat Gibson again then she could face Shnaider again and attempt to get revenge from their match in Ningbo.
The Filipina was also supposed to be playing in doubles in Tokyo, but Eala’s partner Desirae Krawczyk withdrew before their first round match.
