Eala in line for career-best seeding

MANILA, Philippines — Alex Eala is poised for the best seeding of her young career on the WTA 1000 stage.

Fresh off a Round-of-16 run in Toronto, Eala is projected as the No. 17 seed in the Cincinnati Open main draw, according to the WTA, pending last-minute player movements.

The official seedings and draw for the 128-player field will be released today after the qualifying round.

Currently ranked No. 20 in the world, Eala is expected to be seeded higher due to withdrawals of higher-ranked players, including No. 6 Karolina Muchova of Czechia, No. 12 Victoria Mboko of Canada and No. 15 Jasmine Paolini of Italy, all sidelined by injuries.

Eala entered Toronto as the No. 25 seed and delivered, reaching the fourth round with wins over Americans Alycia Parks (No. 71) and Caty McNally (No. 70). The victories stretched her winning streak to seven – the longest of her pro career and, at the time, the longest active streak on the WTA Tour.

Her run ended at the hands of former Olympic champion Belinda Bencic of Switzerland, the world No. 14 and No. 12 seed, 4-6, 0-6.

Prior to Toronto, Eala made history as the No. 29 seed at Wimbledon – the first Filipina ever to be seeded in a Grand Slam main draw.

She was unseeded at the WTA 500 Mubadala Citi DC Open, but toppled a stacked field capped by a stunning finals win over No. 1 seed Pegula for her maiden WTA Tour title.